ARCTIC TERN. 
279 
The Arctic Tern, Sterna Arctica.— Hiron- 
delle de mer Arctique, Temm. — The Arctic Tern of 
British authors. — This tern, ranging to a much 
higher latitude than either of the preceding, would 
perhaps havo been more appropriately named Com- 
mon than the last, for we consider it the most fre- 
quent bird on our shores ; it also seems to prefer 
the shingly beach to rocks, and around Great Britain 
seems, from all our information, to be dispersed 
pretty generally. We have observed the colony 
on the Fam Islands, where the eggs are “ deposited 
on the bare sand or gravel.” On the Isle of May 
it is also plentiful, but breeds in a situation nearly 
similar to the roseate. It stretches northward to 
both Orkney and Shetland, and in the latter was 
the only species seen by Mr. Dunn. The nest was 
here made on the “ gravelly beach, sometimes 
amongst the short dry grass on the tops of low 
cliffs." In one or two instances large flocks of this 
species have appeared inland as if driven from 
their course, these chiefly occurred in spring. The 
harbour and docks of Bristol were visited by large 
flocks duriug high winds that prevailed on Sunday 
8th May, and two or three hundred were killed with 
sticks and staves.* They here seemed to be quite 
exhausted. Accounts of another large colony being 
driven astray are given by Mr. Strickland in the 
Annals of Natural History, and which seemed to 
have spread over a larger extent of country. This 
* Bristol Mirror, quoted by Mr. Yarrell. 
