Image from page 203 of “The sportsman’s British bird book” (1908)
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Identifier: sportsmansbritis00lyde
Title: The sportsman’s British bird book
Year: 1908 (1900s)
Authors: Lydekker, Richard, 1849-1915
Subjects: Game and game-birds — Great Britain Birds — Great Britain
Publisher: London : Rowland Ward
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library
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Text Appearing Before Image:
t {St. sinensis) and the black-shafted ternlct {St. saundejsi). To the British Isles the little tern isa common summer-visitor, arriving early in May and departing in • See W. E. Clarke, Irans. iVorfolk Nat. Hist. Soc. vol. viii. p. 752 (1903). I So GULL GROUP September or early October, and buildini^ in colonies all round thecoasts, although less commonly so than in former years in many partsof the north of England and Scotland. In 1907 a nest was taken inNorth Uist ; and the species also breeds in other parts of the OuterHebrides. In Ireland its chief breeding-resorts are situated on thecoasts of Leinster, Ulster, and Connaught. Although throughout the British Isles the breeding-haunts of thisspecies are restricted to the coasts, where beaches and sand-banks areselected, in India the little tern, like the other ternlets, breeds chiefly ontidal estuaries, the banks of large rivers, and salt-water lagoons, whereit feeds chiefly on fish. In general habits these terns are very similar
Text Appearing After Image:
MOUNTED IN THE ROWLAND WARD STi I. ITT I. K TKKN. to their larger relatives, although their smaller dimensions give themthe appearance of being sti.U more active birds. Generally the eggs—two, or less commonly, three in number—are laid in a mere hollowin the bare sand, but in some cases the margin is said to be surroundedwith a ring of broken cockle or other shells. The eggs range from i^to nearly i^ inches in length, and are as variable in colouring as thoseof the Sandwich tern, but are more regular in shape, being nearly oval.From pale cream to drab or buff is the usual range of the ground-colour, upon which arc bold markings in the shape of variable spotsand blotches of different shades of dark brown, with well-developedunderlying purplish marks. Three instances (one of two birds) of the occurrence of the noddy(Afious stolidus) in the British Islands have been recorded, but it doesnot seem that any one of them is altogether free from a certain element GREAT SKUA i8i of doubt ;
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