to sit upon them 14 or 15 days before hatching out. As soon as 

 the young ones appear they begin to disperse in opposite directions, 

 lying flat on the bare shingle several yards apart. I found one 

 young bird for two days in the nest with two eggs, but on going 

 again on the third day I found the other two had hatched out, and 

 that the young birds had separated in opposite directions. This 

 clearly shows they have no use for a nest even while they are 

 very young. It seems somewhat strange that as a cold wind is 

 nearly always blowing over the ground they do not keep close 

 together for warmth. The parent birds seem to choose that part 

 of the beach on which the stones are nearest in size to their eggs, 

 and as the shingle is very much spotted from long exposure with 

 black, yellow and brown lichens, the stones are so nearly of the 

 colour of the eggs that it is very difficult to find the eggs, and 

 you would very likely step upon the eggs you are trying hard to 

 find. The young when hatched, as you will understand from the 

 specimens before you, are quite as difficult to find as the eggs ; 

 and, further, they lay themselves down flat on the shingle, and 

 would allow themselves to be trodden upon rather than move. 

 Here, again, is another great protection, as the least movement on 

 their part would betray them. 



The Common Tern is the predominant species along the shores 

 of the Channel, and on the West side of Great Britain as far North 

 as the Tsle of Skye ; while on the East it is found from Kent to 

 the Moray Firth. In Ireland it is the more plentiful bird in the 

 South ; while it appears to rival the Arctic Tern in the North ; 

 and there it frequently nests by the margin of fresh water. The 

 Autumnal migration lasts from August to October, but that 

 depends entirely upon the weather. They sometimes leave us 

 in August, but if the weather improves they may return again and 

 remain until October. Their food consi-sts of young Coal-fish and 

 Sand-eels, with Shrimps and other Crustaceans. When anyone is 

 on the ground the parents drop the food down near their young. 



The Lesser Tern (Sterna minuta) was the next bird that came 

 under my notice. I had great pleasure in watching this pretty 

 little Tern, the smallest of its species as its name implies. It 

 begins to breed about the middle of Afay, hatching out its young 

 during the first week in June. Thus I was enabled to obtain 

 specimens of them. As you are aware the sea seems to sift the 

 shingle into different sizes, throwing it up in large /idges, the 

 smallest usually nearest the sea. I found that this bird, like the 

 preceding one, chooses that portion of the shingle most suitable to 

 the size of its eggs, and not one of its eggs is to be found on the 

 same ground as the Common Tern breeds upon. Its eggs are found 

 on the smaller stones nearer the sea shore, hence there is the same 

 difficulty in discovering the eggs as in the former species, for as 



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