94 BIRD-HUNTING 



times I was quite unable to find a nest. Possibly 

 they had not yet commenced to build. That was 

 the opinion I formed at the time, and it was 

 probably correct, for the male birds were pursuing 

 the hens, as though they were still busy pairing. 



The Common Terns [Sterna fluviatilis) and 

 Lesser Terns [Sterna minuta) were also in 

 possession of their breeding-ground, and evidently 

 about to begin ; but up to nearly the end of April 

 I could find no eggs, though they were very excited 

 and clamorous, in the usual Tern fashion, all the time 

 I was searching. 



A Reeve {Machetes pugnax) was shot out of a 

 flock on April 25, and a Wood Sandpiper (Totanus 

 glareola) out of another small flock feeding in a 

 tamarisk swamp on April 26. In this same swamp 

 was a Magpie's nest with six eggs. 



On the same day I shot four Little Stints {Tringa 

 minuta) out of a large number which swept past my 

 hiding-place. These were all on migration on 

 their way to Northern Europe, the Little Stints 

 bound for far-distant Siberian tundras, where they 

 will spend the short summer in nesting operations 

 and return southwards again in the autumn. 



This coast is, of course, famous for the great 

 numbers of Woodcock which pass up and down, 

 to and from their more northern breeding-quarters. 

 Southern Albania, opposite Corfu, is well known to 



