LESSER TERN. 471 



the companionship of other birds, although sometimes they take 

 up their quarters beside the common tern and black-headed gulls. 

 On Loch Lomond there are a few pairs usually found breeding on 

 Inchmoin a low, flat, and marshy island, where birds of many 

 species are exceedingly numerous; but a situation like this is 

 entirely exceptional. Like its allies, the Lesser Tern does not 

 trouble itself about the construction of a nest, but deposits its 

 eggs, which are two, and occasionally three in number, in a 

 shallow cavity in the sand or shingle, to which they closely 

 assimilate in colour, and are in consequence very difficult to 

 find. 



In the autumn season small numbers of these elegant little 

 creatures frequent the estuary of the Clyde ; and stray specimens 

 are occasionally obtained at a distance of one or two miles from 

 the sea in some parts of Argyleshire and Ayrshire. On the east 

 coast the breeding colonies being larger and more numerous 

 this tern is often seen in fishing groups frequenting Belhaven 

 Sands in Haddingtonshire ; the sands at the mouth of the Eden, 

 near St. Andrews, in Fifeshire; Barrie Sands in Forfarshire; and 

 similar localities in Aberdeenshire. In its habits it resembles 

 other terns ; but is even a more interesting study to the ornitho- 

 logist, being so much smaller than the common or arctic terns. 

 During the breeding time it shows considerable impatience on its 

 haunts being invaded, and meets the intruder with shrill cries, 

 which it persistently utters so long as he remains in the neigh- 

 bourhood. On the dispersion of these breeding colonies it travels 

 by slow degrees southwards, and finally quits our shores in 

 September, arriving again in the following spring. 



Wilson in his description of the habits of this bird, gives an account 

 of its breeding peaces on the beach of Cape May, and narrates the 

 following incident: "During my whole stay these birds flew in 

 crowds around me, and often within a few yards of my head, 

 squeaking like so many young pigs, which their voice strikingly 

 resembles. A humming bird that had accidentally strayed to the 

 place appeared suddenly among this outrageous group, several of 

 whom darted angrily at him ; but he shot like an arrow from them, 

 directing his flight straight towards the ocean. I have no doubt but 

 the distressing cries of the terns had drawn this little creature to 

 the scene, having frequently witnessed his anxious curiosity on 

 similar occasions in the woods." 



