SANDWICH-TERN 103 



Wideopens). At both places the Sandwich nested at a higher level 

 than their congeners. Near Ballina, in Ireland, a colony nested " on 

 a low, flat mudbank scarcely above the level of the water." : They also 

 lay on sandbanks and rocks. 2 In the nature of their nesting-sites 

 they differ, therefore, little from others of their genus, except that, 

 like the little-tern, they have not been found nesting on bare skerries. 

 As far as is known they never breed inland. 



It would be difficult to say whether their nests are more often 

 lined or unlined. On May 19 to 24, 1909, I examined over a hundred 

 at Ravenglass, and found them mostly more or less lined with marram 

 grass. On the 30th of the same month I examined all the nests at 

 the Fames. In the large colony on the Knoxes, hardly a nest was 

 lined. A few contained odds and ends, but there could be no 

 certainty that these were placed there by the terns. The birds on 

 the Inner Wideopens nested in the sea-campion, and either made 

 a scrape in the loose bits or laid on them. The nests were thus more 

 or less lined, but apparently by no effort on the part of the owners. 

 In all these cases the nests contained eggs. The difference in habits 

 between the two sets of colonies is probably to be explained by the 

 nature of the sites. On the Knoxes the supply of nest material is 

 very scanty ; at Ravenglass it is abundant. 3 There is no evidence 

 that the birds add material to their nests during the season, but it 

 is not improbable that they do so, especially after rain. 4 



The eggs are laid in the early part of May, and vary considerably 

 in colour (see " Classified Notes "). Both sexes share in the duty 

 of incubation. I have seen them several times take each other's place 

 on the nest. Both when doing this, and when the cock is feeding 

 the hen, the curious displays, already described in the case of the 



1 Ussher and Warren, Birds of Ireland, p. 316. 



2 Naumann, op. cit., p. 160: "trockene Sandwatten und vom Meere umgegebene Sandbanke, 

 oder Felseii mit von Natur abgeplatteten Stellen." 



3 H. Saunders (Manual, 2nd ed., p. 644) records both lined and unlined nests. Dr. Patten 

 (Aquatic Birds, p. 385) makes the unlined predominate. Naumann (op. cit., p. 160) states that 

 there are no lined nests, a statement in which his editors apparently concur. 



4 See p. 85. 



