306 
LABXDiE. 
On the 5th of November, 1849, a tern of this species was shot 
by Dr. C. Earran at a pool of brackish water near the sea, and 
adjacent to his residence at Clonea, county Waterford. That 
gentleman, first attracted by the extreme elegance of its flight, 
remarked that the bird was different from any tern he had ever 
seen, and went for his gun to shoot it. Unfortunately for itself, 
it waited his return, and exhibited no alarm at his near approach. 
He observed that, instead of plunging into the water after its prey 
like other terns, it appeared to alight with its feet on the surface 
of the water, and pick up food there in the manner of the 
kittiwake-gull. Its stomach was found to contain the remains 
of water-beetles and larvae. The specimen, when mounted, was 
kindly forwarded to Belfast for my examination. It was a very 
fine and perfect example of the young bird of the year, and exhi- 
bited a grey marking of an oval form, extending for an inch in 
length on each side of the breast, unnoticed in the description of 
Yarrell, but included in that of Temminck. A bird in similar 
plumage was obtained still later in the year — about a week before 
Christmas 1849 — at a marsh within half a mile of Cork. It came 
into the possession of Dr. Harvey, of that city. The species had 
previously been noticed once or twice in Cork harbour.* The 
black tern is said to have been observed in the bays of Dundalk 
and Drogheda.f 
This species, though very much scarcer in England than for- 
merly, is more frequently met with there than in Ireland ; — in 
Scotland, strange to say, it has never been seen, at least until the 
year 1846; the date of publication of Macgillivray's ‘ Manual/ 
On the 2nd of June, 1826, I observed numbers of black terns 
about the fens of Holland, between Utrecht and Breda, and much 
admired their gracefully buoyant flight, and, when in pursuit of 
insect prey, their most rapid evolutions. 
* Mr. Wm. Crawford. f Communicated to Mr. R. J. Montgomery. 
