92 Baby Birds at Home 



bill coloured pinky red, whereas that of the 

 Common Tern is pinky red tipped with 

 black. 



The Arctic Tern arrives during April or 

 May, and soon resorts to its favourite haunt 

 on some low island, or unfrequented part of 

 the coast to breed. As a rule, it does not 

 make a nest of any kind, simply scratching 

 a slight hollow in the sand or shingle, or 

 selecting some little declivity on a bare piece 

 of rock. 



The eggs number two or three and vary 

 in colour from bluish green to brownish buff, 

 spotted and blotched with different shades 

 of brown, and grey. 



The chicks are covered with buffish brown 

 coloured down of variable tints, marked with 

 black. They run about soon after they are 

 hatched, and when alarmed squat amongst 

 the stones and shingle and hide, as shown in 

 our illustration. 



Where great numbers of Arctic Terns 

 breed together, the chicks mingle in such 

 crowds that it is difficult to understand 

 how the parent birds recognise their own 

 young ones, when they return home with 

 food. 



