MMe IE EN 399 
the ‘lining-shells’ had been collected (Plate XL., figs. 1 
and 2). But, again, in other situations, in the absence of 
sand and shells I have found the eggs deposited on gravel 
and soil, where practically no pretence whatever at the 
formation of a nest could be made out. The eggs, two to 
three in number, are of a cold stone-colour, finely or coarsely 
spotted with ash-grey and brown, and closely harmonising 
in shade with the sea-sand. They are at times laid in such 
exposed situations and so close to the tide that, after a 
severe gale accompanied by heavy rainfall, great numbers 
of them may be swept away, those that remain often 
becoming half-buried in the drifting sand. In this state I 
have found deserted eggs, as late as July 138th. 
Incubation commences about the end of May or the 
beginning of June, but is not general until the middle of 
the latter month.! Colonies composed of limited numbers 
of these birds breed around the British coast, including 
marine islands; in the latter situations they consort, to a 
considerable extent, with Arctic and Common Terns. In 
some districts the nesting-haunts are widely separated 
from one another, while along certain coasts three or four 
colonies may exist within a radius of ten miles.” 
Of recent years this species has been recorded as nest- 
ing in the Orkneys, and has bred since 1885 or 1886 in 
the Outer Hebrides, the numbers having greatly increased 
during recent years (Harvie-Brown).’ 
Several other islands on the western sea-board of 
' The following analysis, made of a small colony which, so far as I 
am aware, was unmolested, helps to bear out this statement :— 
June 11th, 1900, I visited a colony containing eighteen nests. Of 
these— 
Eight contained two eggs each ; 
Four >, three ,, 
Six ny one egg 5 
that is to say, one-third of the total number of nests at that date con- 
tained only one egg each, and of the eight containing two in each, the 
full clutches were not necessarily represented. 
2 The Little Tern is killed in such numbers and in such a ruthless 
manner, that I deem it inadvisable to indicate more precisely the posi- 
tion of these localities. 
3 Mr. Harvie-Brown obtained two eggs from a colony in the Outer 
Hebrides in 1900 (‘ Avifauna Of The Outer Hebrides,’ 1888-1902. Ann. 
Seot. Nat. Hist., 1903, p. 16). In Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist. for October, 
1902, p. 197, Mr. T. G. Laidlaw mentions that this species nested in 
Barra for the first time on record. 
9 
