THE LITTLE TERN. 49 



their noses, forming small stone-padded hollows, the eggs are more often than not 

 laid." 



In Scotland it breeds in the Orkneys and the Hebrides, and in many of the 

 inland lochs. Messrs. Harvie-Brown and Buckley say : " The curious distribution 

 of this species on the east coast and west coast of Scotland is worthy of remark. 

 If we examine even only the occurrences of certain species without their nesting 

 places, and on migration or distribution alone, we find a curious and striking 

 affinity between this west coast island of Tiree and the Moray Firth, species 

 turning up at Tiree which we know to occur in the Moray Firth, but which are 

 rarer or almost absent from localities on the west coast north of Tiree. We know 

 also the undoubted ' fly-line,' or ' tide-way,' of birds up and down the Spey valley, 

 though not emphasized by a lighthouse or lightship at the entrance of the 

 Moray Firth ; and we cannot do otherwise than consider the island of Tiree as a 

 great point d'appui of migrants, both from the eastward and from the north-west, 

 the perhaps united streams of which then pour down toward the south and 

 south-east via the Rhinns of Islay " 



In Ireland its main nursery is on a small lake in County Mayo ; a few places 

 round the coast are also tenanted by them. 



Beyond the British Isles, according to Mr. Saunders, this Tern breeds in 

 Europe from "about 60 N. (rare on the Baltic), as far south as the Mediterranean 

 and the Caspian," and in North Africa. In winter it migrates down the western 

 coast of Africa as far as the Cape. In Asia it breeds in " Trans-Caspia, Turkestan 

 and Northern India," while in winter it finds its way to Burmah and Java. The 

 Little Tern does not occur in the western hemisphere ; but it is represented by 

 closely allied species. 



The Little Tern arrives in England from its winter quarters about the middle 

 of May, and begins to nest toward the end of the month. 



The two sexes are similar, except that the female is slightly smaller and has 

 the tail feathers rather shorter, and in breeding plumage they have the line from 

 the bill through the eye, the crown and the nape deep black; the forehead, the 

 cheeks, the sides of the face, the lower rump, the upper tail-coverts, the tail and 

 the entire under surface, including the under wing-coverts and the axillaries, pure 

 white ; the back and the wing-coverts pearl-grey ; " the first three quills with 

 black or blackish shafts, and blackish in colour, broadly margined on the inner 

 web nearly to the tip with white ; rest of the quills French-grey " (Dresser) ; bill, 

 which is long, slender, curved and very pointed, yellow, tipped with black ; legs 

 and feet bright orange-yellow. Length 9^-10 inches; wing 6l-6f; tail 3*; 

 tarsus I inch. 



