ARCTIC TERN COMMON TERN. 
159 
In Rutland. — As in Leicestershire. — Mr. Horn reports that about a dozen 
were seen by Mr. Shelton, on 30th Jan., 1886, at Beaumont Chase Farm, and 
that Mr. Thomas Northen saw one flying over Thorpe-by- Water, on 13th Feb., 
1886. 
Order GAVI^. 
Family L A E I D . 
Sub-family STERNINyE. 
ARCTIC TERN. Sterna macrura (Naumann). 
“ Sea-Swallow ” (applied to all Terns). 
Of accidental occurrence on spring and autumnal migration. — Harley 
recorded that, in the spring of 1842, during the prevalence of north-west gales, 
this species was unusually abundant in the county, especially from the 7th to 
the 10th of May, when they might be seen “ in small groups, varying in number 
from a single bird, up to ten, fifteen, and even twenty individuals,” on the streams 
and pools of the county, and he saw “ numbers of individuals coursing along the 
tortuous windings and sinuosities of the rivers Soar and Trent.” I procured a 
beautiful adult male, in perfect plumage, at Saddington Reservoir, on 25th May^ 
1886, and saw, at Kibworth, a stuffed specimen which had been shot at Thornton 
some years previously. 
In Rutland. — As in Leicestershire. — Harley related that it occurred as in 
Leicestershire (and as, indeed, in other counties) during the north-west gales 
which prevailed in May, 1842. I saw one in the possession of Mr. R. Tryon, 
shot, about 1883, whilst passing over the fields near Oakham. 
COMMON TERN. Sterna fiuviatilis (Naumann). 
Of accidental occurrence on spring and autumn migration. — Harley wrote : — 
“ I recollect seeing several birds of this species, a few years since, hovering over 
the river Soar close to the town of Leicester, immediately below the Castle, 
busily engaged in taking small fish. It has been shot in most parts of the 
county, but especially in the vicinity of the Soar and Trent.” A specimen is 
recorded in the Museum Donation-book, as having been shot at Leicester, on 
13th Nov., 1858 ; another (a female) at Saddington Reservoir, on 15th Oct., 1881, 
by Mr. Macaulay; a third at Aylestone, on 29th Oct., 1881, by Mr. E. Batten, 
and a fourth — a female, and, like the last, in immature plumage — at Saddington 
Reservoir, on 16th Oct., 1886, by Mr. A. K. Perkins. The three last examples 
are now in the Museum. Mr. Ingram informs me that it visits the Belvoir 
Lake occasionally, generally after strong easterly gales. 
