Like the Land Swallows, these sea-birds arrive on our coasts in the spring. They disperse themselves over our lakes and large ponds, where they feed on any animal substances they meet with--either fresh or putrefied--fish, mollusks, or insects. Montagu says they are found in great abundance on the Sussex and Kentish coasts, particularly about Winchelsea, and in the Romney marshes towards Dungeness. Mr. Selby found them breeding in the Solway and in the Firth of Clyde. McGillivray met with them in great numbers in South Uist and Long Island; and his correspondents, Messrs. Bailie and Heddle, noted their annual arrival in the Orkneys in May. "They arrive in straggling flocks in the beginning of May," says McGillivray, "and soon betake themselves to their breeding-places, which are sandy tracts, gravelly or pebbly ridges, rocky ground, sometimes low, shelving rocks on the sea-shore; their nests being bits of grass or fragments of sea-weed, placed in a mere depression. In stormy weather they fly little, but shelter themselves by resting on the shore. They go to roost very late in the evening; long after sunset, they are still engaged in seeking their sustenance." Terns always assemble in flocks on the sea-coast, on the margins of lakes, in marshes, or wooded spots near the mouths of rivers, at their breeding-time. Their nests are placed so near to one another, that the hens sitting actually come in contact. They lay their eggs, to the number of two or three, which hatch in twenty days. These eggs are esteemed as a very delicate viand: in the United States a considerable trade is carried on in them. The Sea Swallow is found in all the regions both of the Old and New World, Australia, and the islands of the Pacific. The Tern (_Sterna hirundo_) is very common in France, on the shores of the Atlantic, and in the Mediterranean. THE LITTLE TERN (_Sterna minuta_, Linn.). ENGLISH SYNONYMS.--Lesser Tern: Montagu, Selby. Lesser Sea Swallow, Little Tern: McGillivray, Flemming. LATIN SYNONYM.--_Sterna minuta_: Latham, Flemming, Selby, McGillivray, Morris, Jenyns, Temminck. FRENCH SYNONYMS.--_La Sterne Petite_: Figuier. _La Petite Hirondelle de Mer_: Temminck.