228 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



of perhaps a quarter of an hour, back came (as I 

 believe) our first-seen Tern, with a E-ook in full 

 chase, and the same result ensued, except that in 

 this second case we saw the Rook abandon the 

 pursuit after having obliged the Tern to go down- 

 wind for a considerable distance. This same Tern 

 soon afterwards returned, followed and surrounded 

 by a number of Swallows and Martins, and again 

 turned down-wind, but soon came back again and 

 flew past us up-wind, this time with three Wood- 

 Pigeons in close attendance. This is by far the most 

 abundant species of the Tern family on the coasts of 

 England generally speaking, but, as Mr. H. Saunders 

 says, it is difficult to define its northern summer-range 

 exactly, owing to the fact that this overlaps the 

 southerly limits of the Arctic Tern, Sterna macrtira, 

 — -the prevalent species of the Scottish coasts and 

 islands. The present species arrives on our coasts 

 early in May, and from the second week of that 

 month till autumn has fairly set in may be met with 

 in considerable numbers not only about the sandy, 

 shingly, and muddy districts of our coast-line, but 

 frequently also about freshwater lakes and reservoirs 

 at a great distance from the sea, although, with the 

 exception of one small sheet of water in Ireland, I 

 have not personally found it breeding away from the 

 sea-coast. The eggs of the Common Tern, generally 

 three in number, are laid with little or no attempt at 

 a nest, amongst shingle, on short turf just above the 

 high-water line, and very frequently on the masses of 

 rubbish, — sea-bleached twigs, fragments of seaweed, 

 rushes, and other refuse, — that indicate the highest 

 wash of the waves in ordinary summer weather on 

 our shelving sandy shores. The flight of the Tern, 



