BY SANDY SHORES. 239 



difference to be noted. Both display the same 

 easy, erratic, buoyant movements in the air ; both 

 utter a sharp crrick-mg note, especially at the nest- 

 ing-places. Both feed on small fish, crustaceans, 

 and insects, the former of which they catch by 

 pouncing down from the air, just like a Gannet 

 or a Kingfisher ; both are gregarious, especially 

 in their domestic arrangements. Both show a 

 decided preference for an island on which to 

 nest, rather than the shore of the mainland ; 

 and both are migratory, arriving in April and 

 leaving slowly in autumn, when the duties of 

 the year are over. There are few prettier sights 

 along the sandy coasts than a flock of Terns 

 fishing close inshore, mayhap in some quiet 

 bay or sea-loch, especially if we chance by good 

 fortune to watch them from an eminence. How 

 erratic is their buoyant flight, how small their 

 bodies in comparison with the long, narrow 

 wings, how brightly their plumage glistens in 

 the sun ! They hover in a fluttering throng 

 above the shoal of fry, first one bird dropping 

 down like a white stone, then another, and 

 another, the splash being distinctly heard from 

 shore, and with a fluttering movement again 

 rise into the air. Down and up they go as long 

 as we are permitted to observe them, for they 

 follow the shoal persistently, and if the fry move 

 fast the birds are soon lost to view. Both these 

 Terns breed in June. The Common Tern usually 

 makes a slight nest among the herbage or on 

 the shingle, preferring a site on higher ground 

 a little distance from the water ; but the Arctic 

 Tern rarely or never makes the slightest of nests, 

 and elects to lay its eggs upon the shingle and 



