422 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



15 to 20 yards apart. The variation in colour and 

 in size of the eggs, even in the same nest, was very 

 great. Their nests — merely a shallow scrape-out in the 

 shingle — were in most cases lightly lined with dry grass. 

 In several instances I found eggs indented and cracked, 

 due no doubt to the unevenness of the bottom of the nest, 

 causing undue weight on one portion of the egg when 

 the bird is sitting on the nest. At this date I found 

 eggs with the young birds beginning to form, and others 

 quite fresh. In 1902, the earliest date on which I heard 

 of the Common Tern's egg being found was May 16, 

 and I saw some myself on May 18." 



EOSEATE TEEN. 



Sterna dougalli, Montagu. OriiWi. Diet. Swpj^l. 



(1813). 



On the authority of the Kev. J. Pemberton Bartlett, 

 who, writing in 1844, states that it "has been seen in 

 Komney Marsh." Mr. G. Dowker, in his Birds of East 

 Kent, 1889, states that it is " said to have been met with 

 by Colonel Cox." 



LITTLE TEEN. 



Sterna minuta, Linngeus. S.N., L, 'p. 228 

 (1766). 



" Skerrek." 



This pretty Little Tern is a summer visitor to the 

 coast of Kent, and its principle breeding haunts are the 

 Lydd Beach and some sandy beaches about the Isle of 



