260 



BRITISH BIRDS. 



[vol. VIII. 



This habit is useful, in that eggs on the open beach are 

 far less conspicuous when laid on the bare ground than 

 on a mat of maram grass or drift. 



The bird is most faithful to its eggs. By way of an 

 experiment we chose a clutch of three eggs last year 

 laid on the bare sand outside Glaux Lagoon, and moved 

 them, a yard at a time, every three or four hours towards 

 the Lagoon. Later we increased the distances and 



Fig. 10. COMMON TERN ANGRY. 



shortened the time intervals. The bird followed her 

 eggs to the mouth of the Lagoon and then deserted. We 

 repeated the experiment on a clutch at the far end of 

 Great Sandy Low. We moved them towards the mouth 

 of the Low and then across the Tern Dunes. They were 

 half-way over these, and nearly 200 yards from the spot 

 on which they were laid, when they hatched out. 



I referred above to a " census " taken in 1913 and 

 again in 1914. The object was partial^ to determine 

 the total number of clutches and the average number 



