LARID2. ai 
it is said to remain to breed in the neighbouring 
county of Dorset, though not in any great num- 
bers.* 
According to Yarrell, the Lesser Tern lays in any 
small accidental depression in the ground above 
high-water mark; but Mr. Ecroyd Smith, a writer 
in the ‘ Zoologist,’ says that the nests he found were 
not in an accidental hollow, like those of the Com- 
mon Tern, but always scooped out, as stated in 
Mr. Newman’s book, ‘ Birdsnesting.’ 
The food of the Lesser Tern consists of small 
fish, which it picks up when they come a little too 
near the surface, and small Crustacea, such as 
shrimps, and some sorts of insects. Meyer adds to 
these the more tender weeds that float on the surface 
of the ocean. 
The Lesser Tern may immediately be distin- 
guished from either of the other species by its much 
smaller size. The bill of the adult bird is orange- 
yellow, black at the tip; irides dusky; the forehead 
is white, which colour runs back on each side as far 
as the eyes; the top of the head, the nape, and a 
streak from the eye to the base of the upper man- 
dible, are black; the back, scapulars, rump, wing- 
coverts and tertials uniform gull-grey; the upper 
tail-coverts and tail-feathers white; the tail is much 
forked; the outer primary quills dusky grey, the 
* ‘ Zoologist’ for 1865, p, 9766). 
