9 . 
SANDWICH TERN. 
several were blown far inland. While driving near Brighton, a couple of miles from the coast, I 
noticed a single bird trying to make headwmy against the gusts of wind, wdiich occasionally forced it 
to fall back: in no other instance have I met with this species at any distance from salt water. 
Though several stations where Sandwich Terns reared their young are stated to have existed on 
various parts of our coasts, the majority appear to have been deserted of late years. It is only on the 
Fern Islands that I have met wnth these Terns during the breeding-season ; at the time of my last visit, 
in the summer of 1807, there were probably a couple of hundred pairs. The birds then resorted to two 
of the smaller islands, where they laid their eggs among the fine gravel and shingle. The men who 
look after the sea-fowl had surrounded these spots with some large blocks of stone to preserve the eggs 
from the force of the wind, as they are often destroyed by the terrible gales that not unfrequently break 
over these rocky islets. One colony wms intermixed with Arctic Terns, wliile the other had selected 
a more retired stretch of sand partially sheltered by some large slabs of rock ; in both instances a few 
Oyster-Catchers and Ringed Plovers had taken up their quarters near at hand. These Terns lay twm 
c£?gs in a small depression in the fine gravel, a fcAV strands of grass occasionally collecting; their cradle 
is honoured by some with the title of a nest. I w*as informed by the egg-gatherers that they usually 
change their breeding-places, seldom laying for two successive seasons on the same island. 
The state of plumage exhibited by the adult in autumn is showm in the Plate : about the end of 
June the black feathers on the head gradually become speckled with white, wliich increases as the 
season draws on. As to the age of the other bird I am unable to offer an opinion with any degree of 
certainty, though it is probably in its second year. This specimen Avas shot on the 10th of September, 
1874, dying in an easterly direction in the Pirth of Forth, off Canty Bay : the adult was also obtained in 
tbe Firth a few' days before. 
II I ■ 
