AMONG NORFOLK TERNS. 261 



latter most probably being the correct name. Wherever a trio of 

 eggs had been located amongst these the similitude was remark- 

 able. I took a stone or two home with me, and, placing egg and 

 stones together, made a coloured sketch of them, "just for the 

 novelty " of it. These lichen-spotted stones do not occur at 

 Yarmouth, where all the shingle-strips are subject to the laving 

 of the sea-waves, but at Aldborough, on the Suffolk coast, under 

 conditions like those obtained at Wells, I found long stretches of 

 them exactly corresponding in appearance. 



We presently hid in the long marram -grass on the higher 

 sand-heaps, when the Terns with no more ado simply flew above 

 their nests, and from an elevation of ten or twenty feet alighted 

 right down upon them, their wings closing as their light buoyant 

 bodies touched their precious eggs. The wind was easterly, and 

 nearly all their previously agitated manoeuvres had been performed 

 head to it ; and they, without exception, sat upon their eggs with 

 the bill pointing eastward. The clamour ceased at once. Just 

 prior to our sitting down on the sand-dune we flushed a Red- 

 legged Partridge from its nest, the startled bird dashing across 

 the nesting area, whereupon the angry Terns darted down at it, 

 and fairly mobbed it out of sight. 



I regret that my time was so limited, for the nesting habits of 

 the Terns are exceedingly interesting ; and Tom Cringle himself, 

 a characteristic son of the marshes, was "no chick " at bird-lore, 

 or uninteresting in his conversation. A mighty hunter of wild- 

 fowl he may be in the winter months, but a famous and reliable 

 watcher he appears to be in his proper season ; and I question 

 whether any of the " egg-poaching" fraternity would profit by 

 trying any of their games upon him. That the very splendid 

 protection given the Terns at nesting-time is rewarded by good 

 results seems to be an assured fact, and one only regrets that on 

 their passage south in the autumn they should be treated with 

 scant kindliness by irresponsible and reprehensible gunners. It 

 is gratifying, too, that at Cley and Blakeney, equally famous 

 nesting places, similar protection is afforded them ; and the 

 report issued by this Society is so entertaining, that I am con- 

 strained to copy a few lines from the watcher's report for 1904 : — 



" June 22nd. — Found Lesser and Common Terns' and Dott- 

 rells' [Ringed Plovers'] nests with eggs. 



