176 
males would be requisite than females at the breeding stations. 
In one flock of fifteen there were thirteen drakes and two ducks ; 
in a flock of nine there were seven drakes and two ducks j in a 
flock of eight there were seven drakes and one duck ; and many 
other flocks, which were too far oif to be certain about, seemed to 
be nearly all drakes. The curiosity which they sometimes dis- 
played was very singular. One day I marked a flock alight and 
rowed up to them, and, when within 25 yards, I saw, to my 
amazement, that they were heading towards the boat, chattering 
the while as hard as ever they could (for I hardly know how else to 
describe their notes, which are uttered with the greatest rapidity), 
but in a few seconds they seemed frightened and rose, only to 
settle again a couple of hundred yards in front. I approached 
them again, and they again manifested the same curiosity, but got 
frightened when I came near ; this game continued until I drove 
them nearly to the shore. It was a singular combination of 
curiosity and tameness, in part due to the total absence of shooting 
ior some time previous. Their actions are very amusing, the 
drakes darting after the ducks through the water, and sometimes 
the reverse, each bird throwing up a cloud of spray ; at other times 
standing up, as it were, in the water to look around them, or sinking 
themselves until they are almost invisible; never all diving at 
once, ahvays a few sentinels above water, and, if alarmed, instantly 
their necks are straight up into the air for the purpose of seeing as 
far as they can without rising. As spring advanced they massed 
into larger flocks, and on the 12th of May I noted as many as 
200 together. 
The Arctic Tern, I believe, still breeds near St. Leonards. 
There is a considerable colony at Pevensey, which, according to 
]\Ir. Dutton, is all composed of this species (‘ Zoologist,’ 1801, 
p. 0102). The difficulty of finding their eggs is their preservation. 
I paid them a long visit with Captain Clark-Kennedy, who was 
staying at Eastbourne ; and, with the help of his terrier, U'c found 
eight nests of three eggs each, and three of one. They were all 
found by the terrier, and without his aid I am sure wc should have 
stood a bad chance of finding any. These Terns use the White 
Sea-campion in a very pretty way in lining their nests. On 
]\Iay 11th, as I was standing on the beach, I saw live lovely Illack 
Terns. There happened at the time to bo standing on the water’s 
