n6 ANNALS OF BIRD LIFE. 



gregate for their summer duties. The Lesser 

 Tern is the only species that does not breed here. 

 Singularly enough, this charming little bird ap- 

 pears to prefer the coast of the mainland rather 

 than an island for its nesting-place, and conse- 

 quently it is rapidly becoming scarcer as its old 

 accustomed haunts are encroached upon by man. 



iayfn e g, T ih It scrapes a little hollow in the shingle above 

 high-water mark, and lays three or four eggs, buff 

 in ground colour, blotched and spotted with brown 

 and gray. There is a splendid colony of the 

 handsome Sandwich Tern at the Feme Islands. 

 This bird makes a slight nest, sometimes within a 

 few inches of the tide mark, sometimes a con- 

 siderable distance from the beach, in the centre 



lems v have of one of the islands. The eggs are two or three 



june. lot in number, and remarkable for their beauty and 

 variety, ranging from white to buff in ground 

 colour, more or less boldly blotched and spotted 

 with rich brown, light brown, and inky gray. The 

 Arctic Tern and the Common Tern also breed 

 here in abundance, the former species breeding 

 constantly much closer to the high-water mark 



Arctic Terns than any of the rest. It never makes a nest, but 



lay, i sth * 



June. deposits its two or three eggs in a hollow of the 

 shingle, where they very closely resemble the sur- 

 roundings in colour, making their discovery diffi- 

 cult. The Common Tern generally makes a nest, 

 though a very slight one, and as a rule it lays its 

 eggs some little distance from the water, among 

 sea campion and grass. Its eggs are two or three 



