654 STERNA MINUTA. 



of its buoyant flight as it skims over the waters, or shoots 

 along on its way to and from its breeding-place, the tiny 

 creature must be an object of admiration to every lover of 

 nature. You may see a pair coming up from a distance, 

 flying at the height of a few yards over the waves, their long 

 wings winnowing the air, and impelling them in starts, as it 

 were, as they wend their way in undulating and wavering 

 movements. Suddenly their flight is arrested over a large 

 pool left on the sands by the retiring tide ; with quick beats 

 of their wings, they hover stationary, or but slightly shifting 

 place, and with downAvard-pointed bill seem intent on some- 

 thing which they perceive in the water. One drops, but not 

 like a stone, dips, but with upraised wings, and rises with a 

 small fish in its bill. The other is similarly successful. On- 

 ward they proceed, now and then emitting a shrill cry, and 

 with gentle beats of their wings. Far a-head is a flock 

 engaged in picking \ip their prey, and onward they speed to 

 join their kindred. At many miles distance from their breed- 

 ing-places they may be met with, and yet they generally do 

 not wander very far, as they can procure an abundant supply 

 of food along the sands. Sometimes they may be seen sit- 

 ting on the smooth water, and occasionally resting on the 

 sands. 



" Saturday being a field day, I walked with some students 

 along the links to Tarbathie Hill, and thence to the mouth 

 of Mill-den Burn. Two of my pupils had gone before to 

 procure some Terns and their eggs, and when we reached the 

 place where we found them engaged in shooting, we termi- 

 nated our botanical excursion. At the mouth of the Burn is 

 a flat recess in the sands, the banks retiring to some distance 

 from the general line of the coast, and there, in spots where 

 the little heaps of dried sea-weed had collected the sand 

 about them, the colony had settled. It was the Last Days of 

 Pompeii with the poor birds. Their settlement had been 

 robbed in the morning by some boys, and they were flying 

 high overhead, emitting their shrill and creaking cries loud 

 enough to be heard at the distance of six or eight hundred 

 yards. Although the birds kept at a great height, one of the 

 gunners had shot a pair of them before we arrived. Many 



