CHAP, xxv.] TERNS-CROWS. 201 



bis bill in one place, just behind the head, where it seems to be 

 invariably caught. 



The terns which breed in the islands on a loch in the woods 

 of Altyre, fully five miles in a straight line from where they 

 fish, fly up to their young with every sand-eel they catch. I 

 have seen them fly backwards and forwards in this way for hours 

 together, apparently bringing the whole of their food from the 

 sea, notwithstanding the distance ; their light body and long 

 swallow-like wings make this long flight to and fro less fa- 

 tiguing to the tern than it would be to almost any other bird. 



Great numbers of terns breed every year on the sandhills. 

 Their eggs, three in number, are laid in a small hole scraped 

 amongst the shingle, or on the bare sand. Generally, however, 

 they choose a place abounding in small stones ; and their eggs 

 being very nearly of the same colour as the pebbles, it is very 

 difficult to distinguish them. The nests being frequently at so 

 considerable a distance from the water, it has often been a matter 

 of surprise to me how the young birds can live till they have 

 strength to journey to the sea-shore. I never yet could find any 

 of the newly-hatched terns near the nests, and am of opinion that 

 the old birds in some way or other carry off their young, as soon 

 as they are out of the egg, to some place more congenial to so 

 essentially a water-bird than the arid ground on which they are 

 hatched. During fine weather the terns never sit on their eggs 

 in the daytime, but, uttering unceasing cries, hover and fly about 

 over the spot where their nests are. All day long have I seen 

 them hovering in this manner, with a flight more like that of a 

 butterfly than of a bird. If a man approaches their eggs, they 

 dash about his head with a loud angry clamour; and all the 

 other terns, who have eggs, for miles around, on hearing the cry 

 of alarm, fly to see what it is all about, and having satisfied their 

 curiosity, return to the neighbourhood of their own domicile, 

 ready to attack any intruder. If a crow in search of eggs happens 

 to wander near the terns' building-places, she is immediately at- 

 tacked by the whole community, every bin! joining in the chace, 

 and striking furiously at their common enemy, who is glad to 

 make off as quickly as she can. The terns, having pursued her 

 to some distance, return seemingly well satisfied with their feat 

 of arms. I have also detected the fox by the rapid swoops of 



