280 BRITISH BIRDS' EGGS. 



THE LESSER TERN. Sterna minuta. This Tern occurs 

 in places upon the English coast and that of the south of 

 Scotland, and is a summer visitant to Ireland. It breeds 

 upon the shingly beach, laying, in some slight depression, 

 two or three eggs, which in their appearance closely resemble 

 the gravel around them, and hence are with difficulty dis- 

 covered. They are of a pale yellowish- white, tinted and 

 spotted with grey and blackish-brown, and are laid early 

 in June. 



THE GULL-BILLED TERN. Sterna Anglica. This Tern 

 must be numbered among our rarer British birds, and may 

 be considered of accidental occurrence even in temperate 

 Europe. Out of Europe it is described as being extensively 

 distributed, and is said to frequent lakes and rivers rather 

 than the open sea. It breeds in marshy places near the sea, 

 or upon the sea-beach, laying its eggs, two or three in num- 

 ber, upon the turf, or upon sand and gravel. The egg is of 

 a pale yellowish stone-colour, spotted with grey, purple- 

 grey, and different tints of brown. The marshes of Sylt, on 

 the coast of Denmark, have been mentioned as a breeding- 

 station of this species. 



THE BLACK TERN. Sterna nigra. During the season 

 of incubation the habits of this bird greatly differ from those 



