142 BLACK TERN. 



BLACK TERN. 



PLATE CCXVIII. FIGURE II. 



Sterna nigra, FLEMING. SELBY. 



Sterna nigra, JENYNS. GOULD. 



Sterna fissipes, PENNANT. 



Sterna ncevia, PENNANT. 



rriHESE birds build together in great numbers; they 

 -*- choose for the purpose swampy places among 

 moors or fens. Their nests are either placed in some 

 slight mound of earth, or tuft of grass or rushes, close 

 to, or floated on the water, among the kindred stems 

 and stalks of flags and reeds, and with grass for the 

 inner portion. 



The eggs are three in number, and still oftener 

 four, and of a rather dark olive-green or olive-brown 

 colour, blotted and spotted with deep brown or black, 

 principally at the larger end. 



The young are produced in fifteen or sixteen days. 



