BIRD NESTING. 



93 



common Tern. Visitors looking at this example, if they are 

 familiar with the manner in which pebbles are deposited by the 

 action of the waves on a raised beach, will be struck with the 

 extraordinarily accurate reproduction of the arrangement of the 

 stones. This could hardly be done-by_the unassisted eye, or by 

 memory. The secret of the success of this case is that as each 



THE TERN. 



stone was taken up it was numbered on the lower side, and they 

 are all laid in the museum exactly as they were on the beach 

 whence they were obtained. Such accurate reproduction is 

 worthy of all praise. 



Of the nest of the Tern we can say but little ; in many cases 

 there is absolutely none, the eggs, two or three in number, being 

 laid upon the bare shingle. In colour these are brownish or 



