238 



WILD NATURE'S WAYS. 



LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL 



island tenanted by a colony of sea swallows, as 

 the terns are popularly called on account of their 

 long, forked tails and swordhke wings, I was 

 suddenly struck on the crown of m}^ head by 

 what I at first supposed to be a pebble jokingly 

 hurled at me by some friend in hiding. It 

 turned out, however, to be an Arctic tern trying 

 to drive me away from the neighbourhood of 

 her nest, if such the mere depression on the top 



