LLANDDWYN 47 



coves between them, in which recesses some of the 

 more retiring of the birds had nested. The whole 

 setting was of a prettiness and daintiness past 

 description ; for it revealed itself wholly and at once, 

 whereas description can proceed but slowly and in 

 parts. 



We discovered about fifteen nests, but it required 

 hours to do so ; not because their contents when 

 discovered were not in sharp contrast with the 

 surroundings, but because of the multitude and 

 continuity of the objects presented to the eye. The 

 nests were in all cases just such as Ringed Plovers 

 would have made in similar situations depressions 

 in the sand, lined with small fragments of broken 

 shells. It was the 26th June, and the nests contained 

 usually two eggs, in three cases three, four contained 

 chicks in down, all able to run swiftly, though hardly 

 larger than the shells from which they had just come 

 out, and one contained two chicks and two eggs. 

 There was no variation in the eggs throughout the 

 colony. Although on Adar Island we had seen 

 great variation in the eggs of the Common Tern, 

 here all were of a pale greenish tint in the ground, 

 with black spots and heavier blotches over clear 

 grey undermarkings, such as those occurring in eggs 

 of the Ringed Plover. There was none of the 

 so-called biscuit-colour type, the only other type I 

 have seen. Probably a small colony of migrants 

 such as this has arisen from a single pair of birds, 

 and by breeding in and in year after year create and 

 confirm a certain uniformity of strain, that manifests 

 itself most readily in the character of the eggs. 



As we moved about the shell shingle, the birds 



