290 
LARIDvE. 
months in 1845, two flocks, consisting each of twenty birds, were 
observed fishing off Ballymacarrett. They joined together, and 
on the night of the 9th, at ten o'clock (no moonlight), were heard 
flying over the land, perhaps on their autumnal migration. Mom 
the 21st to the last day of the month that year, they were nu- 
merous, and covered over the buoys of the Channel at high tide 
as closely as they could sit : on one day it was considered that 
not less than a thousand birds were perched upon them. The 
earliest date of their autumnal appearance, far up the bay near the 
town, in another year, was the 12th of August : September is the 
chief period of their visit.* At the end of this month in 1845, 
and other years, they collected together in great numbers far up 
the bay (about two miles from the town), in the evening, and 
alighted along the edge of the channel. Mocks of many hundreds 
were thus seen by moonlight, and, when they first arrested at- 
tention, were imagined to be masses of snowy foam along the 
margin of the flowing tide ; but on taking wing, their loud and 
well-known cries proclaimed their species. Although one of 
these birds, which was shot, and came under my observation, was 
an arctic tern, I place this note along with others of the same 
kind, as S. hirundo was probably also of the party. The latest 
noted as killed here were four obtained on the 1st of October, 
from a flock of about twenty ; they were the young of the year 
and old birds of S. hirundo. Mom the circumstance of both old 
and young being generally found associated here at this period, 
they probably move southward in company. On the very stormy 
* Sterna hirundo .■ — August 12th. On examination of two adult males killed to- 
day, a great difference appeared in the colour of their primaries. In the one, as they 
appear when the wings are closed and the white inner web concealed, they are 
blackish-brown throughout, and in the other of a hoary white or pearl-grey. July 
16th. Of two very young birds taken from nests at Lake Clay, one was a little older 
than the other, and had the tarsi and feet pale orange, while those of the younger 
were of a deep flesh- colour. The hills of both, as in the old bird, were black towards 
the tip. This is the ordinary hue. The following note indicates an occasional de- 
parture from it. Sterna hirundo. — September 17th, 1839. Four of these birds, shot 
from a flock of five at Conswater this evening, were brought to me. Two were adult, 
and two, the young of the year. Of these latter, one was much larger than the 
other, had the legs and feet of a reddish flesh-colour, and the bill dark greenish-ash : 
the smaller bird had the legs, feet, and bill greenish ; the last being the darkest in 
shade. 
