278 BRITISH BIRDS' EGGS. 



species breeds on the Fern and Coquet Islands, and on 

 Foulney Island, on the coast of Lancashire. Sir William 

 Jardine mentions that when the nests of this species were 

 intruded on, the birds showed sucli great anxiety, and ven- 

 tured so near, as in one or two instances to be struck down 

 with a fishing-rod. The Roseate Tern also breeds on the 

 Isle of May in considerable numbers. The eggs so nearly 

 resemble those of the Common and Arctic Terns, that where 

 they are laid among these latter, they can only be distin- 

 guished from them with certainty by watching the birds as 

 they settle on the nests. They seem however to be more 

 constantly of a lighter colour than the eggs of the other 

 Terns, and are usually longer in proportion to their breadth. 

 They are two or three in number, and deposited upon the 

 bare ground, or upon a small quantity of dry grass. 



THE COMMON TERN. Sterna hirundo. A few of these 

 birds breed on the Fern Islands, and a few also on the Isle 

 of May, but they incubate in greater numbers on Foulney 

 Island, an the coast' of Lancashire. The eggs are three in 

 number, about the size, though not of the form, of those of 

 the Partridge, and of a yellowish or raw-umber ground- 

 tint, spotted with grey and different shades of brown* They 

 are laid upon the bare grass or sand. 



