LESSER TERN. 283 



side. According to Mr. Thompson, it is a regular 

 summer visitant in Ireland. It breeds on the 

 shingly beach, never, that we have seen, on the 

 rock or among grass, like some others; but the 

 nest is placed in a situation similar to that of the 

 ring-dotterel, in a slight hollow, and without the 

 protection of any cover or lining. Mr. Selby has 

 mentioned a colony on the coast opposite the Farn 

 Islands ; we have visited another upon Guillon 

 Point, above North Berwick on the Firth of Forth, 

 and a third upon the Sohvay at Skinburness, all 

 similar to each other. "When approached, this tern 

 may be heard at a distance seeking for the invader 

 of its ground, and by and bye its tiny form is seen 

 advancing with long strokes of the wing ; but it is 

 scarcely so bold or clamorous as some of those we 

 have described, and hovers over the person, making 

 long stoops at him, and again rising high. "We 

 have once or twice met witb it in small parties 

 of young and old, late in ai'tumn, but it seems 

 to leave the coast immediately after incubation, and 

 is much less frequently seen la e in the season than 

 the Sandwich and arctic terns Its European range 

 is not very well ascertained ; in France and Hoi - 

 land it is said to be commou, and the shores seem 

 suited for it, but although in -luded in some of the 

 southern Fauna, little more is said regarding it. 

 "We believe the Indian specim 3ns are identical, but 

 those from North America, o osely allied to it, are 

 distinct. 



