SEA GULLS AND TERNS 



THERE is a peculiar charm about the sea- 

 birds which is felt probably by every bird- 

 lover. Maybe it is partially owing to the 

 environment of these birds that one feels 

 such an especial interest in them, for what 

 is more delightful on a sunny day in summer 

 than to take up one's station on some rough 

 cliff and from thence to watch the terns 

 diving for their prey ? " Q.ue chaque age a 

 ses plaisirs," is a true adage, but the glory 

 of the naturalist is that his hobby is a life- 

 long one. The more one studies birds, the 

 more does one's interest grow, and there 

 is no group more fascinating to watch 

 than that which comprises the gulls and 

 terns. 



Ornithologists formerly associated the 

 terns, skimmers, gulls and skuas with the 

 petrels, but they are now regarded as allied 

 to the limicolce (or plover tribe) with which 

 they agree in the arrangement of their 



83 



