280 REPTILES AND BIRDS. 
the mouths of rivers. Their nests are placed so near to one another, 
that those sitting actually come in contact. ‘They lay two or three 
eggs, which hatch in twenty days. ‘These eggs are esteemed as a 
very delicate viand: in the United States a considerable trade is 
carried. on in them. 
The Tern is found in all the regions both of the Old and New 
World, Australia, and the islands of the Pacific. 
The representative species, Sterna hirundo (Fig. 101), is very 
common in France, on the shores of the Atlantic, and in the 
Mediterranean. 
THE LESssER TERN (Sterna minuta). 
This smallest of the Terns has many habits in common with the 
Sterna hirundo. “In the elegance of its buoyant flight,” says 
McGillivray, ‘‘as it skims over the water or shoots along its way 
to and from its breeding-place, the tiny creature is an object of 
admiration to every lover of Nature. You may see a pair coming 
up from a distance, flying at the height of a few yards over the 
waves, their long wings winnowing the air and impelling them on 
by starts as they wind their way in undulating and graceful move-— 
ments. Suddenly their flight is arrested over a large pool left on 
the sands by the retreating tide. With quick beats of their wings 
they hover almost stationary over the water, with downward-pointed 
bills, intently searching for their prey beneath. One drops with 
upraised wings, dips for a moment, and rises with a small fish in 
its bill, the other is equally successful. Onward they proceed, now 
and then emitting their shrill cry. Far ahead is seen a flock engaged 
in picking up their prey, and onward the stragglers speed to join 
their kindred.” 
The Lesser Tern has the bill slightly longer than the head, and, 
like the Common Tern, slender, nearly straight, much compressed, 
tapering, and acute, the eyes and feet small; plumage soft and 
blended ; wings long, narrow, and pointed; tail long and deeply 
forked ; upper part of the head and nape black; neck, back, and 
wings light greyish blue; hind part of the back and tail white ; 
length to the end of the tail about ten inches; wings twenty-one 
inches. 
This species reaches our shores in the beginning of May, and 
settles along the whole eastern and southern coast, from the Land’s 
End to the Orkneys, but is rare on the west coast. The Firth of 
Forth, the sands of Barry, near Dundee, a place at the mouth of 
