104 



BRITISH BIRDS. 



ignorant of the Corvine device of turning bodily in the 

 air and presenting beak and claws to an assailant from 

 above. Howard Saunders records that a flock of 

 Arctic Terns " has been seen to mob and drown a 

 Hooded Crow." On the other hand, it is stated that 

 in the Fame Islands, a Greater Black-backed Gull 

 forced to keep on the ground by a broken wing, relieved 

 the monotony of its existence by prolonged feasting upon 



Lesser Tern's Nest in Shingle at Ronmey Marsh. 



the eggs and young of the large colony of Arctic Terns. 

 A mile off one could see the whirling canopy of white 

 wings that marked the spots where the invalid paused 

 for refreshments. No doubt a Raven could also exact 

 heavy toll. But these and other large egg-eaters are 

 now no longer common. 



The Arctic Terns of Walney were, however, far from 

 effecting with impunity the change from the normal 

 site. Though they shifted their nesting grounds at least 



