46 BRITISH BIRDS. WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS 



hood of the nest, and the appearance of a Skua within half a mile was the signal 

 for attack. Neither an Arctic nor a Buffon's Skua has a chance with a pair of 

 Arctic Terns. 



" The Arctic Terns have a habit which I have described in ' Pictures in 

 Prose ' of Sterna minuta as observed in Norfolk ; but the account so exactly fits 

 the Arctic Terus that I may be forgiven, perhaps, for repeating it here : 

 ' Returned from its quest the bird, with a fish in its bill, circles round and round 

 and lower and lower over its mate, and presently drops down beside her. Then 

 he begins a series of extraordinary evolutions. With head thrown back, wings 

 drooping and tail cocked straight up, he struts no other word expresses it about 

 in front of his mate. The attitude, a most comical one is exactly that assumed 

 by the ' Laughing Jackass ' Kingfisher when laughing. He jumps at his mate as 

 if daring her to take the fish. Then he will fly round for a bit, only to settle 

 again and repeat the play.' ' 



The bird feeds largely on pteropods, the stomach of one dissected by Mr. 

 Battye being full of these ; still higher in the Arctic regions an amphipodous 

 crustacean (Anonyx nugax) appears to form its chief diet. On our own coasts 

 small fishes are the staple of its food. 



Captain Fielden records that during the Arctic expedition of 1875-76, during 

 which, acting as naturalist, he collected a large mass of most valuable observations 

 on the zoology of the inhospitable regions traversed by the expedition. " On 

 August 2ist, [1875] we found," he says, "eight or ten pairs [of this species] 

 breeding on a small islet off the north end of Bellot Island (Lat. 81 44' N.) : the 

 land at this date was covered with snow ; and on the islet it lay about three 

 inches deep. In one nest I found a newly hatched Tern ; it seemed quite well 

 and lively in its snow cradle. The parent birds had evidently thrown the snow 

 out of the nest as it fell ; for it was surrounded by a border of snow marked by 

 the feet of the old birds, and raised at least two inches above the general level. 

 The Terns of this islet were rather shy, none coming within range till I had 

 handled the young one. There seemed to be abundance of fish in the pools 

 between the floes, as the old birds were flying with them in their mandibles. 

 The stomach of the female which I killed was empty ; but that of the nestling 

 contained remains of fish." 



The Arctic Tern begins to lay in the beginning of June and deposits two 

 to three eggs, two perhaps more commonly than three, very similar to those of 

 the Common Tern. They are, however, slightly smaller and more pear-shaped, 

 somewhat more spotted than blotched and the ground colour is darker. It takes 

 a very good oologist indeed to separate the eggs of the one and of the other out 



