575 



it is said to remain to breed in the neighbouring 

 county of Dorset, though not in any great num- 

 bers.* 



According to Yarrell, the Lesser Tern lays in any 

 small accidental depression in the ground above 

 high-water mark ; but Mr. Ecroyd Smith, a writer 

 in the ' Zoologist,' says that the nests he found were 

 not in an accidental hollow, like those of the Com- 

 mon Tern, but always scooped out, as stated in 

 Mr. Newman's book, * Birdsnesting.' 



The food of the Lesser Tern consists of small 

 fish, which it picks up when they come a little too 

 near the surface, and small Crustacea, such as 

 shrimps, and some sorts of insects. Meyer adds to 

 these the more tender weeds that float on the surface 

 of the ocean. 



The Lesser Tern may immediately be distin- 

 guished from either of the other species by its much 

 smaller size. The bill of the adult bird is orange- 

 yellow, black at the tip ; irides dusky ; the forehead 

 is white, which colour runs back on each side as far 

 as the eyes ; the top of the head, the nape, and a 

 streak from the eye to the base of the upper man- 

 dible, are black; the back, scapulars, rump, wing- 

 coverts and tertials uniform gull- grey; the upper 

 tail-coverts and tail-feathers white ; the tail is much 

 forked; the outer primary quills dusky grey, the 



* 'Zoologist' for 1865, p. 9766). 



