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of the other Terns to which we have referred ; for while they 

 prefer the neighbourhood of the sea for depositing their eggs, 

 this selects inland districts ; and while they lay usually but 

 three eggs, this more frequently lays four, approaching in 

 this respect nearer to the habits of the Grallatorial birds. 

 The nests of the Black Terns (for they build in society) are 

 to be found in marshy places, and sometimes in very wet 

 situations, and barely raised above the surface of the water. 

 They are composed of flags and coarse grass ; and the eggs, 

 three or four in number in each nest, are greatly varied in 

 their colour and markings, being at times of a pale-green 

 ground-colour, or, again, of a pale clear-brown sprinkled, 

 spotted, or blotted with grey and brown of different tints, 

 often approaching to black. Formerly there were many 

 breeding-stations of this species in England, but they are 

 now few. The extra-British range of the bird is however 

 extensive, including parts of Europe, Asia, and America. 



THE WHITE-WINGED BLACK TEEN. Sterna leucoptera. 

 A specimen of this beautiful Tern was shot on the Shannon 

 in 1841. It inhabits the bays and inlets of the shores of 

 the Mediterranean, and is common about Gibraltar ; it visits 

 also the lakes, rivers, and marshes of the countries in the 

 vicinity of the Alps; is common about the lakes of Lucarno, 



