202 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. [CHAP. xxv. 



the terns as they dash at him if he happens to pass near their 

 nests. 



There is one kind of tern that breeds on the sandhills, which 

 is peculiarly beautiful, the lesser tern, or Terna minuta. This 

 little bird, scarcely bigger than a swift, and of a pale blue in the 

 upper part of her plumage, is of the most satin-like and dazzling 

 whiteness in all the lower portions. It is a most delicate-looking 

 creature, but has a stronger and more rapid flight than the larger 

 kinds, and when he joins in their clamorous attacks on any 

 enemy, utters a louder and shriller cry than one could expect to 

 hear from so small a body. Its eggs are similar in colour to 

 those of the common tern, but much smaller. 



The roseate tern also visits us. I do not know that I have 

 ever found the eggs of this kind, but I have distinguished the 

 bird by its pale bluish coloured breast, as it hovered over my head 

 amongst the other terns. 



A favourite position of the tern is on the stakes of the salmon- 

 fishers' nets. Frequently every stake has a tern on it, where, if 

 unmolested, they sit quietly watching the operations of the fisher- 

 men. Indeed, they are rather a tame and familiar bird, not 

 much afraid of man, and seeming to trust (and, as far as I a-m 

 concerned^ not in vain) to their beauty and harmlessness as a 

 safeguard against the wandering sportsman. Excepting when 

 wanting a specimen for any particular purpose, I make a rule 

 never to molest any bird that is of no use when dead, and which, 

 like the tern, is both an interesting and beautiful object when 

 living. 



These birds make but a short sojourn with us, arriving in 

 April in great numbers, and collecting in flocks on the sands of 

 the bay for a few days. They then betake themselves to their 

 breeding-places, and, having reared their young, leave us before 

 the beginning of winter. 



