GRACEFUL SEA-BIRDS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22262, 9 November 1935, Page 5 (Supplement)

GRACEFUL SEA-BIRDS

A COLONY OF TERNS The most graceful of the sea-birds are the terns, and so they are called sea-swallows. One of the best-known colonies in England is on the Fame Islands, close to Holy Island, off the coast of Northumberland. Here, on one of the flower-covered islets is a colony which I should estimate at about four thousand pairs, and these are congregated on a space of about two acres, writes Oliver G. Pike, F.Z.S. The spot tho birds chose for their summer home is not far from the rock on which the Forfarshire was wrecked in 1838, when Grace Darling and her father rowed a mile from the Longstone Lighthouse in a raging sea and rescued nine persons. Although theso low-lying islands have been the scenes of terrible storms, and many fine ships have been wrecked on them, it would be difficut to find a more lovely birdland scene. The best time to see the terns is when the sun is low in the sky in the morning, for then the slanting rays light up the pointed wings as the birds flutter and fly against the blue sky. ' Three species nest there, the arctic, tlie sandwich, and the roseate terns. All lay their eggs on the ground, some making a slight semblance of a nest, hut the majority chooso baro ground. The eggs are so much like their surroundings that at first glance they might be a number of pebbles and they are laid so closely together that in many instances the wings of the birds are touching as they sit.