BY SANDY SHORES. 237 



distance of each other. It will, however, be 

 remarked that the Tern nests on the rough 

 shingle, the Plover on the fine sand. When 

 their breeding - grounds are invaded by man, 

 the Terns hover above our heads, and keep up 

 a chorus of shrill cries which sound like rrick ; 

 and this circumstance will often reveal the pre- 

 sence of a breeding-station which might otherwise 

 have been passed unnoted. Shortly after the 

 young can fly, the birds begin to draw south- 

 wards, proceeding leisurely on their way to the 

 warmer seas round Africa, where they spend the 

 winter. The small size (length under nine 

 inches) readily distinguishes this Tern from all 

 its congeners. 



The same evil fortune has befallen the hand- 

 some SANDWICH TERN (S. cantiaca) as has over- widely but 

 taken its small ally, and it has been banished from S 

 many a stretch of coast where in past years it 

 used to breed in abundance. The most im- 

 portant colony of these birds in the British 

 Islands is located on the famous Feme Islands. 

 Here, it is pleasing to record, the bird is now 

 protected from the extermination which threatened 

 it by the wholesale plunder of its eggs, and it 

 bids fair to become as numerous as it was wont 

 to be. The Sandwich Tern comes back to its 

 summer haunts here at the end of April, although 

 the breeding season is not in full swing before 

 June. This bird is a most gregarious one, and 

 the nests in some parts of the islands where it 

 breeds are so close together that one can scarcely 

 walk amongst them without treading on the eggs. 

 Sometimes the nest colony is formed on the 

 rough shingle near the sea, at others more distant 



