side a perfect cloud of screaming Sandwich Terns rose to greet us, and on a 

 mound of gravel and sand covered with bents and dead seaweed was the great 

 colony. There must have been over two hundred nests, all quite close 

 together, most of them being mere scratches in the ground, sand, or gravel, 

 without lining of any sort. The eggs were frequently laid close to some 

 large stone or piece of driftwood. They were usually three in number, 

 sometimes only two, and we saw one nest with four in it. The Plate annexed 

 is from one of these nests. 



After I had taken as many photos as I required we withdrew and watched 

 the birds returning to their nests. They were very bold, and came in quite 

 close to us and alighted at their nests not twelve yards off. I tried several 

 plates of them on the wing, but though my shutter was working at a 

 twentieth of a second it was not nearly fast enough to bring out their wings 

 with any distinctness. Many of the birds had performed two beats of their 

 wings during the exposure ! 



72 



