SANDWICH-TERN 105 



bill, after which he again struts about with wings and bill in the same 

 position, offering the sand-eel from one to another of the females as 

 he passes along unnoticed, until at last he meets one who accepts his 

 offering, when he sits down to settle their arrangements for the 

 season." If the interpretation of the facts here given be correct, 

 it is clear that, in the opinion of the Sandwich-tern, the shortest way 

 to the hearts of the fair is through that portion of their anatomy 

 which is generally supposed among human beings to afford the 

 promptest means of access to the affections of the male sex. 



The chicks are hatched after about three weeks' incubation, 

 according to records kept by the watcher at Ravenglass, who marked 

 eggs in the nest, and by Mr. F. G. Paynter at the Fames, who placed 

 some in an incubator. The same period is given by Naumann. 1 The 

 chicks vary considerably in coloration, especially with respect to the 

 beak and legs. I have found chicks, just beginning to feather, with 

 beaks either dusky hued, darker towards the end and yellow tipped 

 or all yellow, or, again, orange-yellow, dusky towards the end and 

 yellow tipped. A young bird, noted by Mr. Charles Oldham, which 

 had acquired its first plumage, but was unable to fly, had the bill 

 yellowish horn, and a chick three or four days old had the same dull 

 vermilion with blackish tip. 2 Mr. Oldham or I have again found legs 

 of chicks greenish black, purplish, liver-coloured, also lead-coloured, 

 and legs of feathered young dark purplish and lead-coloured. 



About the second or third day after hatching the chicks have 

 completely disappeared from the nesting-area. On June 14, for in- 

 stance, I noted at Ravenglass in one pack a certain number of chicks 

 which were just hatched or hatching, also a few a day or so more 

 advanced. The next day they all had gone. Once away from the 

 nest they are not easy to find. At Ravenglass, in company with 

 Mr. Oldham, I found a few in the long marram grass some distance 

 from the nests. They were crouching in little self-made scrapes, and 

 when disturbed ran away, making active use of their wings, or rather 



1 Vogel Mitteleuropas, xi. 65. * Zoologist, 1908, 168. 



VOL. III. O 



