On the 13th of June, 1832, the Mew Island was again visited, and by shooting at a few of the terns indiscriminately as they came within shot, we procured one of the roseate, one of the common, and eight of the arctic species. I could distinguish the roseate when on wing from the other two by its colour and by its note, which (as well observed by Mr. Selby) resembles the word crake, uttered in a hoarse grating key. There were many of them. Their flight was still more graceful and buoyant than that of the other species. When they

Sail upon the bosom of the air,"

the tail is borne so as to appear pointed; but is generally beautifully spread when their nest is approached, and they swoop towards the intruder in anger. Under similar circumstances, hawks of different species have the same habit. I have observed terns, too, apparently when not intent on prey, frequently pause, kestrel-like, in their flight, and remain with their bodies stationary in the air, but flapping their wings very quickly. Another tern cries pirre, from which call the whole genus here takes its name:—a third cry is che-eèp, cheep, or chip, when uttered quickly; but this proceeded from birds so high in the air, that their species could not be determined, and I had to remain in ignorance whether this was the call of a third, or whether one species may not possess the two different calls. The darker hue of the under plumage of S. arctica is not always so obvious as to enable us to distinguish it from S. hirundo on wing.

On the 24th of June, 1833, the Mew Island was again visited by Mr. William Sinclaire and myself. As in former years, we fired at all the terns that came within range, until p. 243), with reference to gulls, that "it is positively asserted by the light-keepers as a very extraordinary fact, that they all instinctively return to the South Stack during the same night, on or about the 10th of February. * In the middle of the night they are warned of their arrival by a great noise, as it were a mutual greeting and cheering." In this work, p. 235, the tern is alluded to in a very interesting manner, in connection with the "Narrative of the Loss of the Lady Hobart packet."

*

*This would seem to be the cry of the arctic tern, from Audubon's remark, that it resembles "the syllables creek, creek" (vol. iii. p. 369); but this call was less frequent than pirre, considered that of Sterna hirundo, by no means so numerous as the former species here.

the number required for the purposes of science were obtained, and the result proved very different from that on former occasions, as of the six killed to-day, three were roseate, two common, and one arctic. Of terns generally, I perceived a great diminution of numbers since 1827; but the roseate, which, as before, I readily distinguished by the call, &c., was, compared with the numbers of the other species, much more common than in 1827 and in 1832; we could to-day have shot many more of them than of the others: they seemed principally confined to one part of the island.† Being aware of Mr. Yarrell's opinion that the egg of the roseate tern is in general form longer, narrower, and more pointed at the smaller end than that of the arctic or common species, I looked with this view to all the eggs which I saw in nests on the island;-if nests they should be called, as all the eggs seen to-day were laid on the short pasture, owing perhaps to the birds being more than usually disturbed, and changing their place of laying. There were more cattle on the island than I had before seen, as well as more seekers after eggs. I examined also those collected by one member of a boat's crew, that landed just before us for the special purpose of gathering them; and out of about fifty, only one would be called by Mr. Yarrell the egg of the roseate, and all the others be considered those of the common and arctic; yet, from the number of terns of that species which we saw to-day, from their flying much nearer to us, and being a great deal more vociferous than the

*Their stomachs did not exhibit the remains of any food: the three roseate birds were males.

This reminds us of what Mr. Selby has observed at the Farn Islands on the Northumbrian coast. In the Zoological Journal' for January 1826 (vol. ii. p. 462), he states that "About fourteen years ago the keeper of the outer lighthouse first noticed this as a new and distinct species. Information was given me of the circumstance, and I went over to ascertain the fact; and, having killed several, found them to be the Sterna Dougallii, Mont. Since that period they have greatly increased, and now form a numerous colony, which occupies a large space of ground near to that occupied by the arctic species; and they have a second station upon one of the Walmseys."

Dr. M'Dougall, who discovered the roseate tern on the Cumbrae Islands, Frith of Clyde, considered that there was not more than one of them to two hundred of the common teru, or, perhaps, more correctly speaking, of the common and arctic, the latter not being distinguished from the common at that period.

other two species, I cannot but think that a number more of the eggs examined must have been those of the roseate.* On seeing the boat's crew landing to collect eggs, we remarked to our boatmen that the season was now so far advanced that many of them might be found incubated; but it was replied, that, on the contrary, they were all. fresh-laid that morning, the island being not only daily visited by egg-gatherers, but that boys sometimes remain there all night, sleeping under the shelter of a rock, that they may be the first at the gathering on the following morning. So incessantly are the poor birds robbed of their eggs, that our boatmen stated they can never bring forth their young until the time of hay-harvest, when the people are too much occupied to molest them.†

The birds themselves, too, suffered much this year. In one forenoon at the end of May a party butchered not less than fifty, of which about a dozen were the roseate, and all were afterwards flung away as useless. A dozen, all arctic, were killed on the 1st of June, and subsequently four of the roseate were sent from the island to a gentleman of my acquaintance. Our boatmen stated, that they remembered these birds more than ten times as numerous as at present. Their diminution is owing to their eggs being more than ever sought after, and to the increasing wanton persecution to which the birds themselves are subjected in being killed by heartless shooters, who have no object in view but their destruction.

I have been much pleased by remarking the following trait in

*Mr. Selby, who has had the best of opportunities for examining these eggs, does not mention any difference in form between those of the roseate and arctic species; but remarks that the eggs of the former much resemble those of the latter, "but are a little larger, and with the ground-colour usually more inclining to creamwhite or pale wood-brown" (vol. ii. p. 471).

Eggs, represented in Hewitson's work as those of the common and arctic tern, I have frequently found in the same nest. This author admits that it is quite impossible to distinguish the eggs of these two species from each other with certainty; but that those of the arctic are generally the smaller of the two.

Mr. Knox, in his most pleasing Ornithological Rambles in Sussex,' at p. 2 14, mentions a person having had a peculiar breed of dogs, which he successfully trained to hunt for the eggs of terns, ring-dotterels, and lapwings on the coast of that county; but it is to be hoped that the breed has become extinct, never to be renewed.

the character of the terns. When one is killed, or wounded, all within view of the poor victim fly instantly towards it, and bewail its fate in the most piteous terms. The quickness with which they perceive its fall is surprising. They dart down until almost touching it, and, observing that it cannot rise, keep circling over it with the greatest vociferation; in this act the three species join, making common cause, no matter which kind is victim. This amiable trait, as already mentioned of the gannet, at Ailsa, is sometimes taken advantage of at the Mew Island, for the destruction of the terns, and dead birds are thrown into the air to lure within shot the survivors, otherwise keeping out of range. A habit which Audubon remarked of the arctic tern, met with by him at several of its breeding-haunts on the coast of North America, is equally applicable to the common and roseate species, and probably to others:-that, "whenever one was wounded so slightly as to be able to make off, it was lost to us, and the rest followed it " (vol. iii. p. 368).

I have somewhere read that the lower animals are altogether devoid of that generous feeling for their neighbours in distress, which characterizes the amiable of our own species, and Mr. Jesse, in his popular Gleanings in Natural History,' states that in his opinion, friendship for each other is peculiar to the rook. But in addition to the terns and gannet, the redshank may be named. The gulls, too, exhibit the same feeling, and if one falls, all the species the whole tribe of gulls-enact a similar part to that narrated of the terns, call it affection or what we will: curiosity at all events it cannot be on the part of the terns at the Mew Island, where they unfortunately have too frequent experience in being fired at for that to be the cause. Audubon (vol. iii. p. 107) mentions a similar trait displayed by the puffin, which will be found noted at p. 234 of the present volume. With respect to the deer, however, Shakespeare did not avail himself of the poet's license, but was strictly correct in attributing to that animal a character of the opposite nature, in his lines upon the wounded stag:

Anon, a careless herd,
Full of the pasture, jumps along by him,

And never stays to greet him; Ay, quoth Jaques,
Sweep on, you fat and greasy citizens;

'Tis just the fashion: wherefore do you look
Upon that poor and broken bankrupt there?"*

Mr. J. R. Garrett has supplied the following note, under date of 9th of August, 1849:-"Terns were in great abundance at the Mew Island to-day. I endeavoured to estimate their number, and considered that there were not less than two thousand within sight. So long as we remained on the island they continued to hover over us, uttering their shrill screams, and showing much anxiety, many of them having small fish in their bills, intended, no doubt, for the young birds which had been hatched. On making a careful search we found a considerable number of eggs, the majority of which were addled. A few were, however, quite fresh, notwithstanding the advanced period of the season, and in four of them were young birds, whose cries were audible through the chipped shells. A boy, who resides on the neighbouring island, told me that he had taken from the Mew Island eleven dozen and three terns' eggs, on one day at the commencement of this season. Being desirous of procuring a few terns for preservation, we shot half-a-dozen at random-two of these were of the roseate, and the remainder were of the arctic species.”

On the 16th of July, 1850, I visited the Mew Island in company with the gentleman last named, and others. We were equally astonished and annoyed to find that there was not a tern of any kind on the island; nor did we see one when going to or returning from it to Groomsport, the distance between the two places being about five miles. We were told by different persons that the birds came as usual at the commencement of the breeding season, but from being much fired at, and robbed of their eggs very soon after arrival, they all left the island, and not one had since been seen

A fallow-deer which I saw in October 1833, had met with an accident in the deer-park at the Cave-hill, near Belfast, probably by having fallen down some of the precipitous cliffs, and his fore-legs were much bruised, though the bones were not broken. But he was put an end to by his companions, of which there was sufficient evidence from the wounds of their horns in his rear. The gamekeeper here stated, that whenever any deer in the park are unable to keep pace with the herd, the latter are sure to destroy them.