284 BRITISH BIRDS' EGGS. 



semblance of a quarrel did I observe between any two of 

 these interesting creatures ; indeed they all appeared like 

 happy members of a single family/ " 



THE NODDY TERN. Sterna stolida. The Noddy Tern 

 is only a straggling visitor to any part of the European 

 coast ; but two specimens were shot off Wexford, in Ireland, 

 in 1830. It is found however in the Gulf of Mexico, on 

 the coasts of Florida, in the Bahamas, the Tortugas, and 

 the neighbourhood of St. Helena. "It is familiar to all 

 mariners who navigate in the Equatorial regions, and is often 

 seen in flocks hundreds of leagues from land, assiduously 

 pursuing its finny prey, and uttering loud and discordant 

 cries. Occasionally it alights on vessels, and suffers itself 

 to be captured, probably being exhausted by fatigue from 

 wandering so far away from a resting-place." Birds of this 

 species build in company, thousands of them, it is said, in- 

 cubating together, and, singularly enough, the nests are 

 placed on bushes or low trees ; they are constructed of twigs 

 and dry grass, and, from annual additions made to the old 

 nests, they become in some instances considerable heaps. 

 The eggs are three in number, of a reddish-yellow blotched 

 with dull red and purple. 



SABINE'S GULL. Lams Sadini. The Gulls are the typical 



