120 



scrambling to the summit of the rock, we found the nests ranged 

 all round its borders, most numerous on the northern aspect, 

 where they formed a continuous row; they were very bulky, 

 composed entirely of eel-grass, and were apparently used for 

 more than one season, as several of thera had been recently 

 repaired. The whole surface of the rock, as well as the outside 

 of the nests, was white from the droppings of the birds, and the 

 nests themselves, viewed from a short distance, looked more like 

 petrifactions than any thing else, encrusted as they were with 

 urea. The number of the nests, by count, was one hundred and 

 fifty. Not a single egg was found in any of them, as they had 

 been recently robbed. The same day we saw a fisherman at 

 Green Island, who said that the Monday previous he had taken 

 sixty eggs from the rock. 



Sterna hirundo. A dozen pairs were breeding on the inner 

 Green Island at Manan, and many hundreds on Green Island at 

 Yarmouth. In consequence of the facility of access to Green 

 Island from Yarmouth, the birds are much disturbed. During the 

 short time that we passed on the Island, two other parties landed 

 for the purpose of egging. 



t Sterna arctica. We found several hundred pairs of these 

 birds breeding on one of the Mud Islands. It was the first time 

 that I had ever found them breeding apart from other species of 

 the genus, and was therefore much pleased at being able to 

 examine a large number of their eggs, the authenticity of which 

 was positive. On comparing them with a number of the eggs of 

 the common tern procured at Green Island, no specific difference 

 could be discerned. Some of the nests were made in the short 

 grass at the edge of the beach, others on the masses of sea-weed 

 that had been driven up by storm above the ordinary reach of 

 the w;ives, and others were mere excavations in the sand and 

 gravel of the beach. On examining specimens the moment they 

 are shot, the pearl-gray tint of the lower parts is frequently not 

 readily perceived, except in certain lights, and if this color were 

 the only specific character, it would frequently be impossible to 

 distinguish them from the common tern. This color grows grad- 

 ually deeper after death, and finally becomes nearly as dark as 

 that of the upper parts. The length of the bill varies consider- 

 ably in this as well as in some other species of tern, the difference 



