BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 51 



nesting habits resemble those of the Common Tern ; but 

 the eggs, generally two in number, are as a nile more 

 elongated and have fewer and smaller markings. 



THE LITTLE TERN 



(Sterna minuta). 

 Plate 17. 



The Little or Lesser Tern is the European repre- 

 sentative of a sub-group of the typical Terns, to which 

 the name ' Temlets "* is sometimes appropriately applied. 

 Although really a smaller bird than a Thrush, its 

 slender shape and long bill and tail give it, if anything, 

 the advantage in actual measurements, and on the wing 

 it looks a considerably larger bird. Its size, however, is 

 quite sufficient to distinguish it from the other Terns 

 found in the British Isles. As regards plumage, the 

 Little Tern is very much a smaller edition of the 

 Common species, two of the most noticeable differences 

 being the white forehead and the yellow basal portion of 

 the beak. It has no distinctive winter dress. 



Like its allies, it is only a summer visitor to the 

 British coasts, round which, with the exception of the 

 north of Scotland, it is of frequent and widespread 

 occurrence from May till September. Flat, shingly coasts 

 are the favoured nesting resorts, and where these exist on 

 the south and east coasts of England this Tern may 

 usually be found. North of the Humber it is less common, 

 and although found in Sutherland, and perhaps in Orkney, 

 the Aberdeenshire colonies are probably the most northern 

 ones of any size. On the west coast of Britain it is 

 common for about the same distance, and is then iiTegu- 

 larly distributed up the Scottish coast as far as the Outer 



