260 THE BIRDS OF ESSEX,
Mr. Fitch has ascertained that many years ago it nested on the eastern point
of Osey Island, where there is a very large shingle-bank, but the colony was des-
troyed by the Maldon winkle-boys who took their eggs. A specimen was, how-
ever, shot at Mundon about June 1st, 1888, when it seems probable that it was
breeding somewhere in the neighbourhood. Yarrell (37. iii. 559) says " it breeds
on the shores of Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk," and Mr. Seebohm also (45. iii. 289)
mentions scattered breeding-colonies on the Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex coasts,
but these are now, for the most part, things of the past. It does not now breed in
the Paglesham district (Wiseman). A specimen in summer plumage, labelled
" Brightlingsea, 1863," is in Dr. Bree's Collection. Mr. Smoothy observed one
at Danbury on April nth, 1880. Mr. F. Ball winged one of these birds at South-
end in August, 1879, and kept it through the winter till the following May. He
writes : " It is quite tame, and comes at the call like a cat or dog " (29. May 22.
1880).
Sandwich Tern : Sterna cantiaca.
A regular, though uncommon, summer visitor to Britain, breed-
ing in a few localities. It used to breed on the Essex coast, but does
so, I believe, no longer.
Sheppard and Whitear write (9. 51) :
" On the 5th of May, 1820, we shot two of these birds at Walton, in Essex.
They had made their appearance only two days previously. * * * On the 24th of
April last [1823 ?], we saw two of these birds swimming in the Stour, one of
which we shot."
Mr. Bond met with it commonly at Southend early in Sept., 1842 (23. 39).
Albin, who calls it the " Great Sea Swallow," figures a specimen of which he says
(3. ii. 81) : "I had [it] from my honourable and good friend Sir Robert Abdy, out
of Essex." At Harwich, Mr. Kerry says it is rare, but he mentions one (40.52) shot
on the Pye Sand on Sept. 12th, 1876. It is not rare on the coast in either the Col-
chester or Paglesham districts (Laver), but it does not breed in the latter (Wise-
man). Dr. Bree (32a) notes one shot at Mersea in Sept., 1870. Parsons, in 1834,
says (13. ii. 201) " I have had the pleasure of bringing home the beautiful eggs of
this fine bird from some salterns at the mouth of the River Blackwater in this county,
and also from the Fern Islands." It certainly does not now breed there, although
both Yarrell (37. iii. 541) and Morris (27a. vi. 89) state that it breeds "in Essex, at
the mouth of the Blackwater," doubtless referring to the above record. More says
(3. 452) that in 1865 it bred " in Essex, and probably also in North Kent, at the
mouth of the Thames (Mr. F. Bond)," but I have no information as to the exact
locality. Seebohm states (45. iii. 372) that it no longer breeds on the Essex coast.
Mr. Hope, however, informs me that one pair or more used, until the last year or
two, to breed annually on Colne Beach. I believe it does not do so now, though
Mr. Hope tells me one was seen in Harwich Harbour at the end of April, 1889.
Sooty Tern : Sterna fuliginosa.
An exceedingly rare straggler to Britain, only one or two speci-
mens having been met with.
Dr. Bree records (29. Apr. 23) that, in the winter of 1880-81, one was killed
near Colchester and preserved by Ambrose. The specimen is, however, now
entirely lost sight of.