72 EGOS AND EGG-COLLECTING. 



THE ARCTIC TERN. 



BREEDS on low islands and in suitable places along the 

 coast, chiefly in the northern parts of our kingdom. I 

 have found most nests amongst the shingle. As a rule, no 

 materials whatever are used. The eggs are two or three, 

 varying from greyish-buff to huffish-brown (I have seen 

 them occasionally pale blue), spotted and blotched with 

 blackish -brown and underlying pale grey. The eggs of 

 this bird run slightly smaller than those of the Common 

 Tern. 



THE COMMON TERN. 



THE situation, nest, and eggs of this bird differ but little 

 from those of the Arctic Tern, except that the nest is often 

 farther away from the water's edge, and generally lined 

 with bits of withered grass and weed. The bird is a more 

 abundant breeder, however, round the English coast, and 

 less numerous in Scotland. Its eggs run slightly larger, 

 are not so boldly marked, and the ground colour is less 

 prone to an olive tinge. 



THE LESSER TERN. 



ONE result of the recently-passed law for the better pro- 

 tection of Wild Birds ought to be the stoppage of the 

 decrease of this beautiful little Tern's numbers. It breeds 

 in suitable localities round our coast, depositing its eggs 

 on the shingle without making any nest at all. These 

 number two, three, and occasionally four, similar in 

 coloration to those of the Common and Arctic Terns, but 

 smaller in size. 



