ARCTIC TERN 



173 



the colour of the eggs of the wading-bird.s, gulls, and terns has a 

 sufficient explanation ; although this explanation apparently implies 

 the existence among the birds of the power of modifying the colour of 

 their eggs to suit their surroundings ; unless, indeed, some terns are 

 always in the habit of laying on reddish and others on greyish ground, 

 a supposition which scarcely seems credible. Although occasionally 

 a few bents are added by way of Hning, a mere hollow in the sand or 

 shingle serves the purpose of a nest. The eggs measure between 

 something over i^ inches and i^ inches iri length. The markings 

 are in the form of black dots and spots, sometimes coalescing into 

 blotches, which ma\' be aggregated at the larger end. 



Arctic Tern ^^^^ Arctic tern ^sometimes known as Stej-na arctica) 

 (Sterna maerura). ^PP^^^s to be the true Sterna hiriindo of the great 

 Swedish naturalist Linnaeus, the father of modern 

 zoological nomenclature, and, if so, ought to be designated by that 

 name, and likewise regarded as the type of the genus. It is very 

 closely allied to the 

 common species, which 

 it entirely replaces in 

 the Arctic regions, as 

 it does, so far as nest- 

 ing is concerned, in the 

 Shetlands ; while in the 

 Orkneys, Hebrides, and 

 on the east coast of 

 Scotland it is the pre- 

 dominating species, but 

 gradually gives way to 

 the common tern in the 

 more southerly parts of 



the kingdom. Apparently its most souther!}' breeding-places in Great 

 Britain are now the Fame Islands, off the Northumberland coast, where 

 it nests abundantly, and the mouth of the Humber, where it does so 

 more sparingly ; but there are reports of its having formerly bred in 

 Cornwall. In Ireland, where this tern is more numerous in summer 

 than any other member of the group, it nests not only on the coasts, 

 but also on the freshwater lakes of Connaught. That such an Arctic 

 species should be merely a summer-visitor to Ireland, is certainly 

 very curious, but such, according to the best authority, is stated to be 

 the case. Skins collected during the Scottish Antarctic Expedition 



MOUNTED IN THE ROWLAND WARO STUDIOS 



ARCTIC TERN (MALK IN SLMMER). 



