^14 MR. E. BIDWELL ON THE ISLES OK SCILLY. 
Early on the morning ot Tuesday, June 3rd, we .started on 
our homeward voyage. When about five miles from Land’s End, 
at noon, we saw about forty Shearwaters at rest on the sea, and 
during the afternoon we sailed jiast another ilock of about tlic 
same number. We were much disappointed at the very slight 
information which we were able to obtain regarding the Terns. 
Eodd, in his ‘Birds of Cornwall,’ gives four species as nesting at 
Scilly ; namely, the Common, Arctic, Eoseate, and Sandwich, 
a statement which has been copied by several writers. The only 
two species we identified were the Common and the Sandwich ; and 
as I shared in the views held by some ornitliologists as to the 
incorrectness of the assertion that the Arctic Tern nested there, 
I was very anxious to settle the point. Most unfoi’tunatcly, the 
Terns had been very much disturbed the previous year, in spite of 
Mr. Dorrien Smith’s strict injunctions ; and this season they had 
tpiito deserted their chief breeding stations, and we were unable to 
find their new locality. Their having been disturbed had probably 
made them a little later in laying than usual. 
IMr. Burton, avIio had accompanied us for the purpose of 
jireparing any skins we might obtain, visited the isles again some 
ten days later, and on his return he informed me that he 
found eggs of both the Common and the Sandwich Tern on the 
Island of Guthers, and that the latter species had in all instances 
placed its eggs on the dried seaweed just above high-water mark, 
instead of on the bare shingle, which is their more usual custom. 
I cannot close my short paper without expressing a most ardent 
hope, that the Migration Committee appointed by the Briti.sh 
A,ssociation may shortly bo enabled to induce the keepers of the 
lighthouses at Scilly to take a greater interest in the birds which 
2 >ass them on migration. Erom the information we already have 
of this rich locality, one cannot helj) thinking that, if a careful 
report were made, much useful information on the marvellous 
subject of migration might be obtained, and perhaps many 
additional sjrecies added to the already wonderful list of which 
I have spoken. 
