Sandwich tern

The five indigenous British species follow.

Sandwich Tern This fine species, the Sturnia cantiiaca of Gimmin, and the S. sanvicensis of Latham, is not only the largest of the indigenous British terns, but one of the rarest.

It was formerly much more widely dispersed along our coasts, but persecution has thinned its numbers, and the seaside holidaymaker has banished it from many of its old-time haunts.

Special interest attaches to this bird, because it is one of the very few species that have been first made known to science from examples obtained in the British Islands.

There are small colonies on Walney Island in Cumberland, in the Solway District, on Loch Lomond in the Firth of Tay, and on the coast of Elgin.

Its only known breeding station in Ireland is in County Mayo.

Sandwich Tern reaches the British coasts in April or early in May, but little is seen of this species whilst on passage, for it evidently keeps some distance from the shore as a rule, while passes quickly and unobserved.

The smaller terns, for instance, are commonly seen on the coast of South Devonshire in spring and autumn, but I cannot recall a single strong migration of the present species in that locality.