378 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



very bold, and swooped quite close to my head while I was 

 examining their nests. 



Common Tern (S. fluviatilis) ; Arctic Tern (S. ma'crura). 

 — Both these Terns were breeding on Walney Island and at 

 EaveDglass. I found them most difficult to distinguish from 

 each other, and of course when they were flying overhead in 

 numbers, even although one thought to distinguish individual 

 birds, it was quite impossible to tell which eggs belonged to 

 them. 



The Terns' nests on Walney Island were in close proximity 

 to those of the Black-headed Gull, some being in the sand-hills, 

 and some on the marsh, or " moss " ; but there were a few small 

 colonies in secluded spots of turf and shingle, quite separated 

 from the large colonies. The Terns' nests at Kavenglass, except 

 the Sandwich Terns, were on a stretch of dry grassy land at the 

 foot of the sand-hills, and some distance from the Black-headed 

 Gulls. I found that the nests which were made on the sand 

 generally had a tolerably thick pad of coarse grass as a lining 

 (there is a quantity of coarse grass growing on the sand-hills 

 both on Walney Island and at Eavenglass, of which the dead 

 blades seem to be found a useful article by the Terns and Gulls), 

 the hollow thus lined measuring about 4 in. diameter by |— f in. 

 deep. Most of the nests made on the shingle had no lining at 

 all, the nest-hollow being of about the same dimensions. The 

 nests made on the short turf exhibited rather deeper hollows, 

 with sometimes the lining of a few blades of the surrounding 

 grass, but as often no lining at all. 



I came upon two small outlying colonies, consisting of about 

 half-a-dozen pairs of birds, in different parts of Walney Island, 

 and spent some time watching them with my glasses until I 

 satisfied myself that all the Terns breeding in these two spots 

 were Arctic Terns. One of the small colonies was on a stretch 

 of short turf close to the sea-front, and the other was on a small 

 patch of shingle about one hundred yards inland. I examined 

 four nests of those on the grass, and found them to contain two 

 and three eggs, the nest-hollows being generally as already de- 

 scribed. The eggs of one clutch which I took measured 1*6 in. 

 by 1*15 in. In the colony on the patch of shingle I examined 

 three nests, two of which contained three eggs, the other only two. 



