THE SANDWICH TERN. 
269 
28th of July, 1838, a Sandwich tern, in full plumage, with seve- 
ral redshanks, and about twenty dunlins, were killed at the same 
shot (from a swivel-gnn) in Belfast Bay, opposite “ The Grove.” 
Its length, from point of bill to extremity of tail is 15^ inches (wings extend 
nearly an inch beyond the tail) ; bill above from forehead to point, 1 inch 11^ lines ; 
from rictus to point, 2 inches 9 lines ; tarsus 1 inch 1 line ; middle toe and nail 
measured in a straight line, 1 inch ; carpus to end of longest quill (the first) 11-| inches ; 
tibia bare for inch ; outer tail-feathers 9 lines longer than second pair ; breadth 
of wings extended, 2 feet 7 inches. The colour was that of the summer plumage, 
as described by Montagu, in every particular but one, none of the primaries being 
tipped with black, as in his specimen, but instead, being throughout of a uniform 
tint ; inside of the bill yellow. 
The fowler who killed this bird saw fourteen. Sandwich terns 
(which, from their size, black bills and legs, he at once recog- 
nized to be of the same species as the former one) together in the 
bay, on the 3rd or 4th of September, 1839. So tame were they, 
that he and another person on board a dredging vessel remarked, 
when relating the circumstance, that from its deck they could 
have brought down the terns with whips, but their only offensive 
weapon was the sand on board, with which they pelted them ! On 
the 23rd of September, 1844, an adult bird was seen at the quay 
of Belfast, where, perched on one of the mud-lifting scoops, it 
admitted of a very near approach. These facts respecting the 
tameness of the birds may seem too trivial, but they indicate that 
the locality from which they came has been little visited by man. 
One of these terns, sent from Portaferry, Strangford Lough, to 
Belfast, for preservation, on the 16th of August 1844, was 
probably shot in that neighbourhood. 
The following notes relate to the occurrence of the Sandwich 
tern on the Dublin coast. In October (?) 1831, one was shot at 
Clontarf; on the 29th of July, 1834, I saw two specimens — an 
adult and a young one ( S . striata, Lath.) — which were shot that 
day by T. W. Warren, Esq., at the locality just named, on the 
borders of the bay. On one day in the month of September 1837, 
this gentleman saw at least a dozen Sandwich terns near Howth. 
On the 11th of May, 1842, one was seen on Dollymount strand, 
in the same quarter. 
