232 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



three pairs were breeding in close vicinity, then 

 perhaps as many more at the distance of a quarter of 

 a mile, the whole breeding-range being occupied by 

 some twenty-five or thirty pairs. No nest is made, 

 and the eggs are not easy to find without close 

 search, from their resemblance in colour to the sand 

 and shingle upon which they lie ; in many cases 

 I only discovered the eggs by seeing the birds 

 waddle off, they seldom flew from their sittings, 

 or if they did take the trouble to rise, settled again 

 within a few yards without showing any signs of 

 alarm, or indeed of agitation, beyond the frequent 

 utterance of their shrill " skirl," contrasting greatly 

 in this respect with the many Oyster-catchers and 

 Ringed Plovers that were breeding in the locality, 

 whose anxiety and restlessness were really painful 

 to witness. The stretch of sea-shore to which I 

 allude was, at the time of my visit, remote from 

 railways and roads, and being very little frequented 

 formed a paradise for birds of many species, but I 

 have in Spain found the Little Tern breeding within 

 a few yards of a much frequented footway, and quite 

 close to a canal up and down which boats were 

 constantly passing. I have said that the eggs are 

 not easy to find, but the downy young are even more 

 difficult to detect upon their breeding-places, and, 

 in common with many other shore-frequenting species, 

 have an inborn instinct for " keeping small " that has 

 often bafltied me. In one instance I found two young 

 Kinged Plovers that could not have been hatched 

 many hours cowering upon three eggs of the Little 

 Tern. I have met with this species throughout the 

 Mediterranean from the Straits of Gibraltar to Cyprus, 

 but nowhere in great abundance. 



