During- a visit to Dungeness on the 12th of June, 18G4, I saw many sitting on their two eggs: none 
were then hatched ; but two young birds were sent to me thence on the 22nd. These downy nestlings 
were very beautiful : all their upper surfaces were of a delicate buff, obscurely marbled with brown ; the 
ends of the wings uniform buff ; lower part of the throat stained with buff ; bill flesh-colour, clouded 
here and there with brown ; tarsi and webs flesh-colour. Mr. Selby states that the Little Tern is not, like 
its congeners, an inhabitant of the Fern Islands, but annually breeds in a small colony, about eight or nine 
miles distant, upon the beach of the mainland, near to Holy Island ; Mr. A. Newton, however, informs me 
that he believes it has now abandoned this spot. It is plentiful in the Frith of Forth, where it occupies 
stations on both sides of the arm of the sea, and is met Avith in various parts of the island, and also on the 
Lincolnshire coast, Avhere it is said to be A^ery abundant. 
The eggs are of a huffy stone-colour, sparsely spotted with dark broAvn and light ashy purple ; they are 
about an inch and three-eighths long by fifteen-sixteenths of an inch in breadth. 
“ Dr. Far ran,” says Thompson, “gives an interesting account of this species as seen by him and Mr. 
Nimmo, at the Hards Islands, off the coast of Gahvay, in the summer of 1838 : — ‘ On turning into a small 
ravine, there appeared within tAventy yards a cloud of the Lesser Terns, plunging incessantly into a ])ool 
Avhich the receding tide had left filled Avith Avater. A flock of SAvallows preparing for migration gives 
but a faint idea of their numbers ; but what surprised me more was their permitting my near approach 
without exhibiting the slightest fear or mistrust, still continuing, although now not a yard from me, 
plunging and screaming as if I were but a shadoAv. My curiosity Avas greatly excited ; and, stooping doAvn 
to examine the pool, I found it to be almost a living mass of herring-fry, each about an inch and a half in 
length : this fully explained the cause of such a congregation. I Avas determined not to give my unsus- 
pecting friends any cause of regret for the unlimited confidence placed in me, and endeavoured to assist 
in their pursuit by putting my hands together and commencing to bale out the Avater and fry ; but in this 
I lost both time and labour, for not a single fry Avould they take Avhen throAvn out and exposed on the rock ; 
but if by a chance it fell into a crevice containing a little AA-ater, it Avas instantly seized and ^valloAved.’ ” 
Speaking of the bird as seen in India, Mr. Jerdon says, “ This minute Tern is most abundant at the 
mouths of tidal rivers and backwaters on the Malabar coast, and appears to be more rare on the east 
coast; indeed I have only found it on the Ganges in small parties. It nidificates in this country on sand- 
banks, on the Ganges near Mirzapore. Swinhoe found it breeding on Formosa.” 
The sexes differ very much in size, the male being a third larger than the female; in plumage they are 
alike. 
The Plate represents the bird and its tAvo dlmiuutiA'e chicks, of the size of life. 
