THE ARCTIC TERN 45 



will convey its capture to the nearest land, or not unfrequently sit on the water 

 until it has eaten it. It is surprising with what force this bird descends ; and 

 the splash it makes can be heard for half a mile across the water. Like the 

 Common Tern it rarely perches on the ground, save at its breeding place, or when 

 about to rest or sleep, and it seldom tries to walk far. The air is its true element, 

 and its long narrow wings seem never tired of bearing its little body to and fro. 

 It sometimes floats buoyantly on the water for a short time, but never dives." 



The Arctic Tern is almost exclusively marine in its nesting habits, very rarely 

 going out of sight of the sea, and by preference selecting an uninhabited island. 

 Messrs. Harvie- Brown and Buckley, however, state in their " Fauna of Sutherland, 

 Caithness and West Cromarty," that it may be found breeding " on the banks of a 

 loch or river, some distance from the sea. One favourite site is in the vicinity of a 

 moorland loch about four miles from Wick, and the birds in passing to and fro 

 from the sea always follow the course of the river." Its nest is generally a hollow 

 scraped in the sand, without any soft lining ; sometimes a few small pebbles 

 are laid round it. Mr. Godfrey, who observed it breeding in company with the 

 Common Gull, and other species, in a little island, clothed with broad flag-like 

 vegetation, in Loch Grumnavoe, on the mainland of Shetland, says that " most 

 of the Terns' nests were situated on the grassy upper tract, and each was formed 

 of grass and dry flags placed together without any tidiness or compactness ; but 

 in sufficiently thick layers to keep the eggs dry." 



It generally breeds in large colonies, with the nests close together. Mr. 

 Trevor- Battye, however, writes in the "Ibis" in regard to his Spitzbergen experiences: 

 " I never came upon any place where these birds were nesting in large colonies. 

 Three pairs at the most would occupy one part of the beach, and their nests 

 would be far apart ; then at the distance of a mile or so you might come upon 

 a pair or two more. ... A pair of Arctic Terns were for several days 

 anxious to nest within a few paces of our large group of tents, and were little 

 disturbed by passers, only flying off for a few yards and then returning to the 

 spot, where they made many false nests. The Arctic Tern, when preparing its 

 nest, works with both the shoulders, using its feet only as a pivot. After turning 

 round and scooping thus, it rests for a little with its bill at the ground near. On 

 moving the bird after one of these resting-spells, I have found little stones and 

 bits of shells in the bottom of the nest. I had formerly supposed that these and 

 the small bits of sea-weed occasionally seen in a Tern's nest, were there by 

 chance, but I am not sure now that they are not put there by deliberate act. 



" I do not think that the Skuas often succeed in robbing an Arctic Tern's 

 nest. One pair of Terns in Advent Bay did all the fishing in the neighbour- 



VOL. vi H 



