THE ARCTIC TERN 



tint of the bill, though the tip is sometimes more or less dusky." Howard Saunders, 

 in his Manual of British Birds, already quoted, has shown that there is a difference 

 in the width and colour of the dark line extending along the shaft on the inner 

 webs of the primaries ; this line is wider and darker in the Common Tern. 



THE LITTLE TERN. 



Sterna minuta, Linnaeus. 

 Plate 71. {Frontispiece.} 



This beautiful little bird visits its breeding stations in the British Islands every 

 summer, arriving at the end of April or early in May, and departing in autumn. 

 In Europe it breeds as far north as the Baltic and south to the Mediterranean, also 

 in North Africa, and eastwards in Asia to Northern India, whilst in winter it 

 ranges to Cape Colony and as far south as Java. 



The two or three eggs, laid on the sand or shingle, are yellowish-grey in ground- 

 colour, blotched and spotted with dark brown and purplish-grey. The late Lord 

 Lilford, in his work on British Birds, refers to the extraordinary tameness of the 

 birds when at their nests, and says they "often remain on the eggs till the intruder 

 is within a few feet, when they usually walk off a few yards distance, or take wing 

 and hover closely around, uttering a short grating note." 



The food of the Little Tern consists of small fishes obtained from the water 

 along the sandy shores it frequents. 



Macgillivray thus describes its habits : "You may see a pair coming up from a 

 distance, flying at the height of a few yards over the waves, their long wings win- 

 nowing the air, and impelling them in starts, as it were, as they wend their way in 

 undulating and wavering movements. Suddenly their flight is arrested over a large 

 pool left on the sands by the retiring tide ; with quick beats of their wings they 

 hover stationary, or but slightly shifting place, and with downward-pointed bill 

 seem intent on something which they perceive in the water. One drops, but not 

 like a stone, dips, but with upraised wings, and rises with a small fish in its bill. 

 The other is similarly successful. Onward they proceed, now and then emitting a 

 shrill cry, and with gentle beats of their wings." 



61 



