ARCTIC TERN. 469 



other less frequent species; but I am obliged to acknowledge that 

 I never took much pains to search them out. Indeed, when our 

 tardy and short-lived summer does arrive, we have so many occu- 

 pations, amusements, and engagements to be entered upon, that 

 the fast fleeting fine weather months always glide by, leaving many 

 things unperformed. The two species which are abundant are the 

 Arctic and the Common Tern, in the proportion of about ten of 

 the former to one of the latter. Almost immediately on arrival the 

 process of incubation is commenced. The spots they select are the 

 numerous steep rocky islets stacks, as they are called which in 

 winter are almost continually submerged by the a\A'ful seas rolling 

 in from the Atlantic, but which now are completely covered by the 

 nests of these 'halcyons of the ocean.' When these rocks are 

 visited, the white winged birds rise up in clouds, filling the air 

 with their shrill angry clamour, hovering, wheeling, and darting at 

 the invaders of their nests almost striking them with their wings, 

 exhibiting every sign of rage both in voice and action, and so 

 daring in their approach as to let us knock them down with a stick 

 or boat-hook." 



In the first week of August, 1870, when travelling from North 

 Uist to Benbecula, I witnessed a very interesting habit of this 

 tern in crossing the fords which separate the two islands. I had 

 previously been told by a friend to look out for the birds, which, 

 he said, I should find waiting for me on the sands. On coming 

 within sight of the first ford, I observed between twenty and 

 thirty terns quietly sitting on the banks of the salt water stream; 

 but the moment they saw us approaching they rose on wing to 

 meet us, and then hovered gracefully above our heads as the pony 

 stepped into the water. As soon as the wheels of the conveyance 

 were fairly into the stream, the terns poised their wings for a 

 moment, then precipitated themselves with a splash exactly above 

 the wheel tracks, and at once rose, each with a wriggling sand eel 

 in its bill. Some held their prey by the middle of the body, others 

 by the head ; the latter being able to swallow the fish as soon as 

 they rose. The other birds, however, allowed their fish to drop 

 out of their bills free, and caught them properly by the head before 

 they reached the water, after which they flew to the sands where 

 their fledged young were patiently sitting and fed them with the 

 spoil. At the next ford, a similar scene was repeated by another 

 group of Arctic Terns which we found there waiting the arrival of 



