BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 403 



prolonged krr-ee. Local or other name : none, 

 except Sea Swallow, which applies generally to the 

 Terns. Gregarious. A light sitter, the whole colony, 

 when visited, rising and fluttering overhead in a 

 noisy throng. The bird is not shy, however, and 

 will alight after a little while and sit on its eggs 

 within fifteen or twenty yards of the intruder. 



TERN, COMMON. 



( Sterna fluviatilis. ) 

 Order GAVLE ; Family LARID/E (GULLS). 



Description of Parent 

 Birds. Length about four- 

 teen and a half inches. Bill 

 rather long, slender, straight, 

 sharp-pointed, and pinky 

 red in colour, except at 

 the tip, which is black. 

 This fact and its longer 

 legs distinguish it from the 



COMMON TERN ON NEST. 



brown. Upper part of head and nape black ; back 

 ash-grey ; wings very long, and same colour as the 

 back. Tail much forked and white, except the outer 

 webs of the two longest feathers, which are ash-grey. 

 Chin, throat, breast, belly, vent, and under tail- 

 coverts white, distinguishing the bird from the Arctic 

 Tern, which is grey on its under-parts. Legs, toes, 

 and webs crimson ; claws black. 



Situation and Locality. A mere hollow on the 

 ground, amongst shingle, sand, coarse grass and 

 vegetation, on rocks and dried wrack ; on small 

 islands and quiet stretches of shingly beach round 

 the coasts of the British Isles. Less numerous 



