124 BRITISH BIRDS. [von. x1. 
to determine them correctly before allowing the birds on to 
verify the identification. Of the twenty-three nests examined, 
three contained clutches of two eggs, all the remainder one 
egg each. Two or three eggs were banked up with the 
withered stems of plants, but these were the only times that 
any nesting material was used. 
Details which might indicate the locality are omitted, as I 
am anxious for both these species to thrive in their new home, 
especially as the Roseate Terns have almost deserted the 
other Irish breeding-place. It will be remembered that when 
Mr. G. R. Humphreys discovered it, in 1913, some eighty 
birds were present and twenty to twenty-five nests with 
eggs or young were found (antea, Vol. VII., pp. 186-9). The 
following year only five Roseates were noticed in June, and 
these had left in July without attempting to breed (Vol. VIIL., 
p. 77). In 1915 two pairs arrived “‘ and of these one pair 
certainly nested and reared their young” (Report, Irish 
Soc. Protection of Birds, p. 4). In 1916 my wife and I spent 
more than a week there, and we had the Roseates, six 
altogether, under daily observation. They were decidedly 
bullied, and, possibly owing to that, were exceedingly wild, 
sometimes remaining in the air for two hours at a stretch. 
On July 11th, however, a pair showed signs of nesting, and 
by July 14th a single egg had been Jaid. At the termina- 
tion of our visit, some days later, the other four birds were 
still dashing around together. This year only a pair returned 
and bred. 
Probably Roseate Terns are not naturally erratic, but 
are often compelled to shift their quarters owing to the 
domination of commoner species. 
