little bird at its colonies, and pairs may often be seen chasing each other 

 some height, calling to each other with a curious cry, something like 

 ' yurr-rrr-rrr-yeichk-yeichk! When an intruder appears, the little birds rise 

 straight from their nests and fly round and round, calling incessantly till he 

 leaves the vicinity. 



The food of the Lesser Tern is composed principally of tiny fish, sand- 

 eels, and such like fry ; but it also eats small crustaceans and marine 

 creatures of various kinds. 



The Lesser Tern is rather a late arrival on our shores, seldom appearing 

 at its breeding-haunts before the middle of May, eggs being laid about the 

 end of the month. Its favourite breeding-places are flat beaches, where the 

 sand above high-water mark is covered with broken shells, loose pebbles, and 

 bits of driftwood. It makes very little nest, merely scratching a hollow in 

 the sand for the reception of the eggs, sometimes adding a few bits of broken 

 shell as a lining. Its colonies are not very large, as a rule, only two or three 

 pairs nesting together in many places, but I have come across as many as 

 twenty pairs nesting in one colony, on quite a small patch of sandy gravel 

 on the north coast of Scotland. As is the case with most colonies of Terns, 

 the same site is not chosen every year, and in some seasons Terns are much 

 more plentiful than in others, as when they are subjected to any annoyance 

 or repeated disturbance they very soon leave for more peaceable quarters. 



The nests are very difficult to find, as the eggs so closely resemble the 

 colour of the sand on which they are laid. I have walked about for hours 

 looking for the nests with but indifferent success, but, after sitting down a 

 little way off and watching the birds go to their nests, I have repeatedly found 

 the eggs within a few inches of one of my own footprints. 



Three is the usual number of eggs laid, though four are occasionally 

 found, in which case it is probable that two females have shared the same 

 nest. The ground colour of the eggs varies from pale buff or stone colour 

 to dark brownish buff, often slightly tinged with olive-green ; they are spotted, 

 streaked or blotched with brown of various shades, and with purple-grey 

 under-markings. Some specimens have most of the markings in a zone 

 round the large end of the egg, while on others the underlying marks are the 

 largest and most conspicuous. One variety very closely resembles the eggs 

 of the Ringed Plover, but the shape of the latter prevents confusion. They 

 vary in length from 1*3 to n inch, and in breadth from ro to ~g inch. 



Young in down are pale buff on the upper parts, mottled with grey on 

 the back, and with black on the head, and have dull white under-parts. They 



148 



