AECTIC TEEN. 35 



ford; and in Wiltshire, at Devizes and Trowbridge; doubtless 

 most of the intermediate and adjacent parts were likewise 

 visited. In Surrey, one at Chertsey, October 6th., 1864. 



These Terns breed in great numbers on Coquet Island and 

 the Fern Islands, off the coast of Northumberland. Some 

 also in Lincolnshire, on the coast near Skegness; and on the 

 Isle of Anglesea, near Holyhead; a few on the Scilly Islands, 

 in Cornwall. In Scotland, great numbers along the coast of 

 Sutherlandshire, and on the Isle of May, in the Frith of 

 Forth. A nest containing four eggs was found at Otmoor, 

 in Oxfordshire, in the summer of 1834. 



In Orkney, Shetland, and the Hebrides, they are more or 

 less plentiful. 



In Ireland, it is a common species. 



The sea-shore and low grounds in its neighbourhood are 

 the situations frequented by these birds. 



They are sociable among themselves, and also mingle with 

 other kinds when building their nests together. 



I suppose that the name of Tern is derived from the habit 

 the bird has of turning in the remarkable manner it does 

 when pouncing on its prey. They are true birds of the air, 

 and right pleasant it is to watch them, as each and every 

 of the tribe, floating, falling, rising, sailing, turning, diving, 

 in the kindred element whose lightness they almost seem to 

 equal, on some 'smiling morn' which you will do well to 

 hail when land and sea are ready to welcome you with the 

 indescribable freshness of the early hours. 



They feed on coal-fish, sand-launce, and any other small 

 fish that come to their neb, all stray things being considered 

 as such; these they capture on the wing; also water-insects 

 and their larvss, worms, and Crustacea; on the shore or grounds 

 near it severally, even following the plough, and availing 

 themselves of the results of the turning up of the soil. The 

 young are fed with the same food. 



The note is described by Meyer as resembling the words 

 'greer, greer,' and 'give, give,' uttered in a soft tone. 



This- Tern contents itself with a slight hollow scratched 

 out either in the bare sand, gravel, rocks, or grass, a little 

 of the latter forming a lining, or the former alone sufficing, 

 as the case may be, by the sea-shore, the borders of islets, 

 or the mouths of rivers. Great numbers build together, and 

 the nests are so closely contiguous that it is hardly possible 

 to avoid walking upon them. 



