212 Among the Birds in N^ortliei'it Shires. 



shingle, and during our search for them the dis- 

 tressed little birds flutter and beat about the air 

 uttering their shrill note incessantly, peering down 

 most anxiously, yet displaying no increased alarm 

 when they are actually found and taken. It is a 

 most unfortunate circumstance that this Tern prefers 

 the coast of the mainland to an island for breeding 

 purposes. To this fact its absolute extermination is 

 largely due in not a few localities. There can be no 

 doubt that the three or four other British Terns 

 would have shared the same fate, and become rare 

 and local long ago, in England especially, had they 

 not bred in much less accessible spots, as on the 

 Fame Islands, for instance. Upon the same coast 

 the Ringed Plover also breeds. This bird is a resi- 

 dent in the British Islands, but subject to a good 

 deal of local movement during autumn and winter. 

 We shall find, however, that it always prefers to 

 deposit its four pear-shaped eggs upon the finest 

 brown sand, where scarce a pebble or a shell can be 

 seen. The reason for this curious choice is because 

 the eggs are only spotted, not blotched, and therefore 

 they best resemble such a resting-place as is chosen 

 for them. They would be much more conspicuous 

 upon the shingle where the Tern's eggs rest. Both 

 eggs have a buff ground-colour closely resembling 

 the sand, but those of one bird are heavily marked 

 to harmonize with shingle, those of the other finely 



