ii4 BIRDS OF LOCH AND MOUNTAIN 



handkerchief when the whole colony of Terns flew 

 screaming towards it and swooped and dived at it, 

 all the while making the most tremendous uproar. 

 Whether they thought it was some egg-stealing 

 animal or whether the unlucky Crow had turned 

 their heads will ever remain a mystery. 



By the beginning of July the majority of the 

 young Terns have left the eggs and are carefully 

 watched by both the parent birds. Within an 

 hour or two of being hatched they are able to move 

 about quite strongly. Care, however, must be 

 taken not to keep the old birds long away if 

 the weather is sunless and cold, as the spark of 

 life burns very weakly in newly-hatched chicks, 

 and too long an exposure to the cold winds has 

 very often a fatal termination. 



A good way of finding the nest is to follow 

 up the footmarks of the birds in the sand, when 

 it will be found that they usually lead to a nest. 



Especially is this the case with the Lesser Tern, 

 whose eggs are even more difficult to discover than 

 those of the common species, as they harmonise 

 perfectly with the shingle on which they are placed, 

 and a nest is never constructed. This bird is 

 the most charming of the species, and as regards 

 flight and call is not unlike the Swallow. Un- 

 fortunately, they are now met with in only a few 

 favoured localities. Like many summer visitors 

 arriving in the late spring, the Terns are 

 among the first to depart. Their usual time 

 of leaving the River Dee is the first week in 

 August, when they may be seen in small flocks 

 to the number of half a dozen or so making 

 ready for their departure and playing with each 

 other in the air. 



