252 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. viij. 



inwards. Just before these are reached a narrow shingle 

 bank branches ofE N.E. to join the main bank. A con- 

 siderable area (over 100 acres) is thus enclosed by shingle. 

 This is occupied by dunes in various stages of develop- 

 ment, collectivelj^ known as the Beacon Hills. Adjoining 

 the dunes, and only separated from them by the shingle 

 bank before mentioned, is a large Pelvetia* marsh, on the 

 other side of which is another range of dunes called the 

 Long Hills. These are considerably lower and older 

 than the Beacon Hills, but are also enclosed by shingle. 

 Beyond them he two extensive mud-flats, divided by 

 a sliingle bank, and beyond these again, very nearly 

 surrounded by shingle, and abutting on the main bank, 

 are the Hood Dunes, the oldest of all the dunes and of 

 the least interest as regards bird-life. 



The Blakeney Point Ternery, as Mr. J. H. Gurney 

 suggests, "I" is more correctly termed a settlement than a 

 colony, for it has been there probably since the formation 

 of the shingle-spit. But the ground on which the nests 

 occur is never quite the same in any two successive 

 years. At one time the birds used to nest in numbers 

 on the south-east side of the Long Hills (Fig. 1, K), 

 but since the advent of telephone poles and wires right 

 along that strip not a Tern has laid there, with a single 

 exception in 1914 (Fig. 1, B). This, incidentally, is the 

 only Tern's nest I have ever seen at Blakeney or elsewhere 

 that was completely isolated from others of its kind. It 

 was fully an eighth of a mile from its nearest neighbours, 

 and was separated from them by a high range of dunes. 



In 1911 the Common Tern settlement was fairly 

 scattered over the headland. In 1912 the area occupied 

 was almost identical with that of 1914 (Fig. 1, A), except 

 that it did not stretch so far to the east and west of the 

 Tern Dunes. The embryo dunes designated by this 



* This marsh derives its name from the abundance of the brown alga 

 P. canaHcuIata belonging to the Fticacece. It is an tmattached form, 

 peculiar to Blakeney Point. 



t Ornithological Report for Norfolk (1912) ; Zoologist, 1913, p. 172. 



