Birds of the Sea- Shore 



most part close together and we had strayed 

 somewhat away from them. The birds, however, 

 had not returned to their eggs, and a Herring 

 Gull, thinking he saw an opportunity to snatch 

 a meal, swooped down and settled by some 

 eggs, whose likeness to the stones evidently pre- 

 sented little difficulty to his eye. Before he could 

 do any damage, however, all the Terns in the 

 colony banded together, mobbed him and drove 

 him off, pursuing him, as he beat an undignified 

 retreat, with cries of indignation and triumph. 



While hunting for Lesser Terns' nests, we were 

 fortunate enough to find the four eggs of a 

 Ringed Plover, placed in a hollow scraped out 

 of the shingle and arranged in the unmistakable 

 Plover fashion small ends inwards. Though 

 resembling some of the Terns' eggs in colour and 

 marking, they were easily distinguishable by 

 their pear-like shape. The Tern's eggs are 

 more nearly oval, and it must be seldom indeed 

 that that bird lays as many as four. North 

 of the Humber these species gradually yield to 

 the Arctic and Sandwich Terns, which breed 

 on the Fame Islands, and various suitable spots 

 along the coast of Scotland. 



These northern shores are perhaps more favoured 

 by birdkind during autumn and winter than the 

 southern, though certain spots on the East 

 Anglian coast, lying on the line of the migrations, 

 must closely approach them. Dunlin, of course, 

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