258 THE BIRDS OF ESSEX.
Order GAVIAE.
Family LARIDAE.
Arctic Tern : Sterna macrura. Locally, " Sea Swallow."
An uncommon passing migrant in spring and autumn.
Mr. Baxter has a pair shot by himself in 1880, one near Tilbury, the other off
the Nore Sands. Mr. Kerry shot an immature specimen at Stony Point, in Sept.,
1889, and Mr. A. H. Smee shot a young male in the Lower Hope on Oct 3rd,
1867 (34. 1017).
Common Tern: Sterna fluviatilis. Locally, " Sea Swal-
low."
An uncommon summer visitor, which used to breed on our
coast, but does not now do so.
Mr. Clarke re-
cords (24) one at
Haverhill in 1830.
Edward Double-
day, in 1835, says
(15) that a speci-
men had been
killed whilst " fly-
ing over some
large gravel pits
[near Epping]
which were full of
water." King, in
1838, says (20) :
" These elegant
birds are not un-
frequently seen
during summer,
flitting over the
bed of our river
and following its
windings." On
Aug. 21st, 1883, a
young bird of the year was found in a very exhausted condition in a ditch at
Farnham, having probably been driven inland by a gale (T. J. Mann—29. Sept.,
15). At Harwich, it is " not common " (Kerry). Mr. Jonathan Grubb wrote
(23. 7551):—
" On November 5th [1860], I saw some Terns (the species not known) flying