JOURNAL Ol- THE WILD BIKD L\\ KSTICATJOX SOCIETY. 



been of necessity broken. Miglit it be a 

 stranger egg which the 'lern had evitTed '.•' It 

 appeared that a case in which one bird was 

 chasing another, might ha\e ijeen due lo a 

 dispute over a nest. 



Great numbers of eggs are .said to be 

 destro}"ed, and the later nesting, in Jui\', 

 might be in part due t<j this fact. The Hooded 

 Crow is blamed for the em|5t\- egg-shells in 

 man\- cases. 



fully. l""or exam|:)le, they may be invisible 

 when one looks horizontallv, but thev are 

 easih' detected from the height of an adult's 

 eye, \\ hen one ap])roaclies them. Occasionallv 

 one of the older birds will peck one, but most 

 of them lie quite still and submit to handling. 



A large mortality has in certain vears 

 iiccuired among the Terns when tiie\- are 

 almost ready to Ify. Mr. L. Thomson and the 

 late .Mr. RaiiLsax', who tle\-oted attention to 



Fig 2. — Nestlings of the Coniiiion Tern. 



Young Terns are found on the links to- 

 wards the end of June and during Jul\'. The 

 chick does not seem to stay in the nest long 

 after hatching. It is a conspicuous object, 

 but remains quiet, if lifted and set dow n again 

 it runs off to cover. The predominant colour 

 is brown, with yellowish feet, and toes and 

 point of beak black. They try to conceal 

 theinselves, and to a certain extent success- 



ihis matter, had suggested that the young 

 birds had died from starvation, due possiblv 

 to a dearth of \-oung herrings and sandeels 

 in tiie neighl)ouring .sea. If such a .scarcit}' 

 did occur it seems very probable that tlie 

 \()ung Terns would suffer .severel\'. 



.\ \isil was paid to the terner}- on July 19th. 

 .\ large flock of Terns and Black-headed 

 (nills flew o\er the dunes. Man\- unhatched 



