O. GRABHAM : COLONY OF LITTLE TERNS. 321 



percentage of young arrived at maturity. There is 

 nothing pecuhar to this particular colony in the nests of 

 eggs. The usual clutch is two, occasionally three, and 

 rarely I have found four. Owing to the drifting sand- 

 storms to which this coast is exposed, the eggs frequently 

 get covered up to the depth of several inches, but the old 

 birds almost invariably scratch them out again, and 

 make all right. 



In connection with our Spurn colony one further item 

 of interest may be mentioned. The late John Cordeaux, 



Fig. 4. — Little Tern on the Nest. 

 {Photographed by Oxley Grabhani.) 



who took a very great interest in the birds of the Humber, 

 told me that a good many years ago he sent some eggs 

 of the Little Tern— as this species is wanting in those 

 otherwise Tern-favoured islets — to the Fame Islands. 

 They were put in the nests of the Common and Arctic 

 Terns, but although they hatched out all right, and 

 eventually went away with their foster-parents, they 

 never returned to the scenes of their youth ; and so the 

 attempts to introduce this pretty little species into the 

 Fames resulted in failure. 



