A HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE 191. Roseate Tern. Sterna dougalli, Mon- tagu. A rare straggler noted in Garner's, Sir O. Mosley's and E. Brown's lists but without details. No recent occurrences. 192. Common Tern. Sterna jtuviatilis, Nau- mann. An occasional visitor especially to the Trent and Dove valleys. One shot at Swythamley in 1862, and a flock visited Madeley Pool in 1889 (Birds of Staffordshire, p. 132). On the Trent it is not uncommon, and large numbers were seen in May 1842 (Nat. Hist, of Tut- v- 57)- 193. Arctic Tern. Sterna macrura, Nau- mann. Another occasional visitor. ' Great num- bers of this species visited North and South Staffordshire in May, 1842' (R. Garner, p. 289). One taken near Hanley in September 1888 (Report North Sta/s Field Club, 1889, p. 24). 194. Little Tern. Sterna minuta, Linn. One was killed at Drakelow on 1 7 Sep- tember, 1855 (Nat. Hist. ofTutbury, p. 57), and another shot on the Trent near Burton (Birds of Derbyshire, p. 220), and one at Tean near Cheadle 5 August 1895, and one at Pipe Gate in August 1902 (Reports North Staffs Field Club}. 195. Sooty Tern. Sterna fu/igmosa, J. F. Gmelin. A single specimen of this tropical species was killed near Tutbury in 1852 and is now in the collection at Drakelow near Burton- on-Trent. This was the first record of the appearance of this bird in England, though two other instances have since been noted (Nat. Hist, of Tutbury, pp. 57, 102). 196. Little Gull. Larus minutus, Pallas. Has been shot on the Trent in several places near Burton (McAldowie, p. 138). 197. Black-headed Gull. Larus ridibundus, Linn. The most common of all the gulls seen in the county, and this species once bred regularly at Norbury near Eccleshall. Dr. McAldowie says : ' The writings of Willoughby, Ray and Plot have made this gullery the most famous in the history of ornithology. No work on Staffordshire would be complete without a record of the writings relating to this interest- ing breeding place.' Ray visited the colony in 1662 and says : ' We diverted out of our way to see the Puits which we judged to be a sort of Lari in a meer at Norbury, belong- ing to Colonel Skrimshaw. They build together in an islet in the middle of a pool (Itin. pp. 216-7). Willoughby 's description states : ' Of this kind also are those birds which yearly build and breed at Norbury in Staffordshire in an island in the middle of a great pool. . . . When the young are almost come to their full growth those entrusted by the Lord of the soil drive them from off the island through the pool into nets set on the banks to take them. When they have taken them they feed them with the entrails of beasts, and when they are fat sell them for four pence or five pence apiece. They take yearly about a thousand two hundred young ones.' Plot says : ' But the strangest whole footed water fowl that frequents this county is the Larus cinereus Ornithologi, the Larus Anereus tertius Aldrovandi and the Cepphus of Gesner and Turner : in some counties called the black cap, in others the sea or mire-crow, here the pewit, which being of the migratory kind come annually to certain pools in the estate of the right worshipful Sir Charles Skrymsher, Knight, to build and breed.' He then pro- ceeds to describe in detail the arrival and nesting of these birds as well as the method of capture and disposal of the young, which realized an annual profit of from 50 to j6o at the rate of 5;. per dozen, ' they being accounted a good dish at the most plentiful tables.' Here they continued to breed for nearly a hundred years after occasionally shifting their ground until 1794, since which time scarcely a bird has bred in the county. 198. Common Gull. Larus canus, Linn. An occasional visitor, generally in small flocks after stormy weather on migration. Sir O. Mosley records the visit of a flock of over 100 to the pool at Rolleston (Nat. Hist, of Tutbury, p. 57). Two were shot at Whiston near Cheadle in September 1 888 (Report North Sta/s Field Club, 1890, p. 22). 199. Herring-Gull. Larus argentatus, J. F. Gmelin. Parties are occasionally seen passing over the county, generally going north in early spring. They have been observed in the Trent and Dove valleys and also at Hanford^ while one was shot at Swythamley in 1875. 200. Lesser Black-backed Gull. Larus fuscus, Linn. A rather infrequent visitor to the Trent valley, usually in immature plumage. An old I 5 8
