THE TERN. 



279 



Like the land swallows, these sea birds arrive on our coasts in the 

 spring. They disperse themselves over our lakes and large ponds, 

 where they feed on any animal substances they meet with — either 

 fresh or putrefied — fish, molluscs, or insects. Montagu says they 

 are found in great abundance on the Sussex and Kentish coasts, 

 particularly about Winchelsea, and in the Romney Marshes towards 

 Dungeness. Mr. Selby found them breeding in the Solway and in 

 the Firth of Clyde. McGillivray met with them in great numbers in 

 South Uist and Long Island ; and his correspondents, Messrs. Bailie 



Fig. 101.— The Tern. 



and Heddle, noted their annual arrival in the Orkneys in May. 

 "They arrive in straggling flocks in the beginning of May," says 

 McGillivray, "and soon betake themselves to their breeding-places, 

 which are sandy tracts, gravelly or pebbly ridges, rocky ground, some- 

 times low shelving rocks on the sea-shore, their nests being bits of 

 grass or fragments of sea-weed, placed in a mere depression. In 

 stormy weather they fly less, sometimes sheltering themselves upon 

 the shore. They go to roost very late in the evening ; for long after 

 sunset they are still to be seen seeking their sustenance/' 



Terns at their breeding-time always assemble in flocks on the 

 sea-coast, on the margins. of lakes, marshes, or. wooded lands near 



