128 
NATURE NOTES 
smashed, this was thought an unprofitable proceeding, and her owner had her 
killed. Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
South-acre, Swaffham, June , 1906. 
387. An East Anglian Ternery.— A little time ago a friend whose 
tastes agree with mine wrote to say I must pay him a visit when the Terns were 
nesting. This visit I have just paid. On a dangerous part of the Norfolk coast, 
near hts residence, there is a wind-swept island, but a few feet above high water 
mark, given over to pebbles and banks of sand. It is the resort of a few fisher- 
men and cockle hunters, and is dear to the ornithologist as a nesting place of the 
Common and the Lesser Tern. A weather-beaten mariner was waiting for us 
at the little quay, where were sundry boats, and three or four small fishing 
smacks lying on the mud, one at .least being far too ancient ever to set sail again. 
Hardly had we begun our three-quarters of a mile’s row against wind and tide, 
with mud banks on either side, when the cries of the Terns were heard, and their 
pretty evolutions in the air seen. The Common Tern hovers for a few moments 
above the water, and then drops straight down into it, somewhat after the fashion 
of a kingfisher, seeking for the small fry on which it feeds. The movements of 
the Lesser Tern are much the same ; though it does not hover previous to 
dropping into the water. Both kinds go in over head and ears, reappearing again 
almost instantaneously, and frequently repeating the performance several times in 
a minute. The fishermen tell me they rarely see them settle on the water, or 
attempt to swim. 
In walking close to the incoming tide we amused ourselves by digging up 
cockles in the sand, their tiny tell-tale breathing holes being here, there and 
everywhere at the water’s edge. These appeared at breakfast next morning, and 
were voted very good. Among the pebbles above high water mark, we soon 
discovered numerous nests, if the slight depression made by the Terns to receive 
their eggs may be so-called. As is the case with many ground-nesting birds, 
Terns seem to be in the habit of making several hollows, before the site of the 
nest is finally adopted. We were, however, for a long time unsuccessful in find- 
ing any eggs, for our visit was a week too soon, and accordingly we sat down 
to leeward of a sand hill to enjoy a sun bath, and watch the different birds. 
Presently a pair of Shelduck passed leisurely overhead on their way from the sea 
to some rabbit hole on the mainland which they had adopted as a nursery. Then 
some Curlew flew close past without acknowledging our presence. Shortly after 
this a pair of Ringed Plover lighted on the pebbles, showing by their actions that 
their nest was near at hand. Encouraged by this we resumed our search, and 
were rewarded by finding one nest of the Ringed Plover, and two of the Lesser 
Tern, that contained eggs. I need hardly say that not an egg was handled or a 
nest touched. Our object was to observe and admire, not to rob. 
I was sorry to see a company of common Gulls in immature plumage at the 
extreme point of the island, as they are incorrigible devourers of the eggs and 
young of small birds. The older Gulls were away at their breeding places. Be- 
sides these there was a flock of Sand-pipers, about a hundred. Why they were 
enjoying each other’s society, and not employed in the important business of 
housekeeping, is a matter better known to themselves than to me. 
This insignificant East Anglian Island is likely to be a Tern’s breeding place 
for many years to come. It is a lonely spot that does not commend itself to 
trippers ; the few fisherman who go there find there is nothing to be got out of 
Tern’s eggs, and it is not overrun by that enemy to ground nesting-birds, the 
detestable brown rat. 
South-acre, Swaffham, May, 1906. Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
368. Cuckoos and their Young. —I see that your correspondent, J. T. 
Bird, once more raises a question on this point, on which I ventured to write to 
you some years ago. I fear that now, as then, I must take the unsentimental 
view of the case ; and in support of it I will quote from Lloyd’s Natural History : 
“Dr. Rey, a well-known German oologist, has given his opinion that a female 
cuckoo will lay from seventeen to twenty-two eggs.” How Dr. R. arrived at 
this conclusion I do not pretend to know ; but unless my memory deceives me, 
I have seen the same statement in Nature Notes. If, then, the cuckoo really 
preserves a memory of so large and widely-scattered a family, she must either 
(as I before suggested) keep a note-book, or her memory must be phenomenal. 
