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ALLENS NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 
Habits. — This species, says Mr. Saunders, “ is nearly as 
partial to brackish lakes as to the sea-shore, and when 
searching for food it has a characteristic habit of keeping its 
bill pointed downvvard.s, almost at a right angle to its body.” 
As might be expected from such a powerful bird, its nature is 
bold, and it makes a vigorous out-cry when its nest is attacked, 
some of the birds swooping down within a few yards of the 
intruder’s head, while the rest of the colony fly round in the 
air above, and add their cries to the general expostulation. 
Mr. H. Parker thus describes his experience of the nesting of 
the Caspian Tern in Ceylon 
“The birds at first circled round for a short time, and 
afterwards joined a large party of other Terns at a small neigh- 
bouring bank, from which some of them made frequent sallies, 
flying over my head a few times and then returning. Their 
cry was a hoarse croak or a scream. 
“ Later in the day I found a pair evidently breeding at 
another bank beyond that at which my expedition ended, but 
I could not spare time to visit it. They came out boldly to 
attack my men, and made very determined swoops, often 
coming within three feet of my head. They then rose verti- 
cally above me for fifty or sixty feet, and after flying back 
towards the nests returned to renew the assaults. Ihe more 
timid of the birds, which I presume was the female, occasion- 
ally settled on the nest for a short time, while the male was 
engaged in bullying me. As I told him at the time, it W'as 
nothing else, for I had not attempted to molest him, and the 
nest was certainly quite half a mile away.” 
The food of the Caspian Tern seems to consist almost 
entirely of fish, but it is said to rob other birds’ nests of their 
eggs, and to devour young birds as well. 
Nest. — A slight depression in the sand, occasionally lined 
with pieces of shell or a few bents. 
Eggs. — Two or three in number, laid in May or June. There 
is considerable similarity in the eggs of the Caspian Tern to 
those of the Gull-billed Tern, though they are, of course, much 
larger. The general colour is greyish or stone-buff, sometimes 
approaching buffy-white, and the markings consist of scattered 
spots, seldom confluent, of chocolate-brown or even blackish, 
