64 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



in considerable numbers on various parts of the beach. As a rule the 

 birds were congregated into colonies, but I found two separate nests in 

 quite isolated positions. In the colonies the nests were on an average 

 fifteen or twenty yards apart. The variation in colour and in size of 

 the eggs, even in the same nest, was very great. Their nests — merely 

 a shallow scrape out in the shingle — were in most cases lightly lined 

 with dry grass. In several instances I found eggs indented and 

 cracked, due no doubt to the unevenness of the bottom of the nest 

 causing undue weight on one portion of the egg when the bird is 

 sitting on the nest. At this date I found eggs with the young birds 

 beginning to form, and others quite fresh. July 16th-21st. I did not 

 notice so many of these birds on this visit, but, as I was chiefly on 

 the western edge of the beach, from which the birds had been driven 

 by the artillery practice, that was probably the only reason for my not 

 noticing so many. I was told that the majority of them were to be 

 found to the east of Dungeness Point. 



Lesser Teen (Sterna minuta). — Local name, " Skerrek." May 

 10th-14th. Common about the beach, but not yet started laying. 

 June 3rd-4th. Found them nesting in small companies in a good 

 many places on the beach. They seem to choose places where the 

 shingle is small and comparatively fine, and often do not even trouble 

 to make the usual slight scratch out, laying their eggs in a chance de- 

 pression, such as a footstep. The nests in these colonies were gener- 

 ally rather closer together than in the case of the Common Tern — say, 

 about eight to ten yards apart. There was no real attempt at lining 

 any of the nests I saw, although they occasionally had an odd blade of 

 grass in them. Several of the eggs I found were showing signs of in- 

 cubation. There was not quite so much variation in the colour and 

 size as in the eggs of the Common Tern. The complement of eggs in 

 both species seems to be either two or three. 



Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus). — Local name, "Crock." 

 May 10th-14th. There is a fair-sized colony of these birds on some 

 pools of water in the middle of the beach. Eound the edges of these 

 pools there is a thick growth of reeds and sedges, extending some way 

 from the banks. Most of the nests were resting on the flattened tops 

 of these reeds, which formed a fairly substantial support. The nests 

 themselves were careless structures, the outer part made of dead 

 reeds, with an occasional lining of dry grass, but quite as often with- 

 out any fine lining at all. All these nests were built on the side of 

 the rushes farthest from the land, and were on this account difficult to 

 get at, as the water at the edge is covered by a treacherous layer of 

 dead vegetation. This is not safe to trust one's weight on, for if 



