558 



6 A VlJi. 



LARID^. 



LARID.F.. 





Sterna minuta, Linnaeus.* 



THE LESSER TERN. 



Sterna minuta. 



This bird, the smallest of the British Terns, is not un- 

 common during summer on such j)arts of the coast of the 

 British Islands as are suited to its habits. It appears to 

 prefer low flat shores, or islets, of sand, broken shells, or 

 small shingle, coming here in May, and laying two or three 

 eggs before the end of that month in a small depression 

 scraped in the ground above high-water mark. The 

 Author found considerable numbers of this Tern at the 

 mouth of the Thames, on the Keatish side, about Yantlet 

 Island and the creek of the same name close by. When 

 their breeding-haunts are visited, they exhibit but little fear, 

 settling on the ground not far from those who may be look- 

 ing for their eggs or young, and will frequently walk about 



* Syst. Nat. EJ. 12, i. p. 228 (1766). 



