56 BRITISH SEA (BIRDS: 
or Common Terns. It does not appear to make 
any nest, but deposits its two or three eggs on the 
bare ground, usually in a little hollow amongst the 
shingle. These eggs very closely resemble those 
of the Common Tern; so closely in fact that no 
reliable means of distinguishing them can be 
given. 
LESSER TERN. 
This species (Sterna mzinuta) is by far the 
smallest of the Terns that visit the British coasts in 
summer to breed. It cannot be said to be any- 
where common, and its breeding stations are few 
and far between. Curiously enough, it is not known 
to breed on that great resort of British sea fowl, 
the Farne Islands. There can be no doubt that 
this Tern is slowly becoming rarer, and in view of 
this fact I do not feel justified in assisting its exter- 
mination, by naming a single locality known to me 
where it now breeds. The bird-loving reader will, 
I am sure, appreciate this reticence. Small colonies 
of this pretty Tern are situated here and there 
round the British coasts, and in one or two more 
inland localities. The partiality of the Lesser Tern 
for the coast of the mainland, rather than for 
islands, as a nesting ground, contributes largely to 
the decrease in its numbers. It arrives on our 
coasts in May, and is readily distinguished from all 
its congeners by its small size. In its habits it is 
certainly gregarious, but nowhere are its gatherings 
