LITTLE TEEN 



821 



The little, or lesser tern, is a third less than the common species 

 in size, measuring only eight inches in length. The colour is nearly 

 the same in both birds, except that the under parts in the little 

 tern are pure white, and the bill orange — instead of coral-red. The 

 voice differs somewhat, being thinner and shriller in tone ; otherwise 

 the language is the same. The flight is more wavering. This 

 species is much less numerous than the arctic and common terns ; 

 in its habits it closely resembles them, breeding in communities, 

 sometimes in company with the other kinds. "When breeding 

 alongside of the common tern its nests, as a rule, are placed a Uttle 



Fig. 108. — Lesser Tern. ^ natural size. 



apart and nearer to the water. The nest is a slight depression in the 

 loose sand and gravel, sometimes with a few bents and fragments 

 of dry seaweed for lining ; the eggs are two or three in number, of 

 a light stone-colour, spotted with grey and brown. In size and 

 colour they closely resemble the eggs of the ringed plover. This 

 tern, like the others, hovers screaming overhead when its breed- 

 ing-ground is intruded on ; but recovers from its anxiety only too 

 quickly, for no sooner has the intruder got a little distance away than 

 the bird drops down directly on to its nest. When the female is 

 incubating the male brings food for her, and Mr. Trevor-Battye has 

 described in his * Pictures in Prose ' the pretty way in which the 

 birds play with each other before the fish is delivered. ' Eetumed 

 from his quest, the bird with a fish in his bill circles round and round, 

 and lower and lower, over his mate, and presently drops down beside 



