The Little Tern — Sterna Minuta, Linnæus
This is the smallest of our Terns and is a summer visitor, breeding in fair numbers on shingle beaches round the coast but becoming scarcer in the north.
It may often be seen fishing in small parties at the tidal mouth of some small stream, especially when the tide is flowing. At such times it flies slowly towards the sea till it sees a fish, when it stops, hovers for a moment, and then drops on its prey, rising immediately from the water to resume its search; after progressing a short distance it will wheel back and return to its starting-point.
The eggs are laid on the bare sand or shingle without any attempt at a nest; they are usually three in number and of a pale stone colour spotted with grey and brown. The note is a sharp “kik.”
In summer the head and nape are black, except for the forehead, which is white. Upper parts grey, tail and under parts white. Bill yellow with a black tip. Legs orange.
The young have the head white, streaked with blackish brown, mantle grey with buffish tips, under parts white. In their first autumn plumage they are very similar to the young of the Sandwich Tern, the feathers of the back being marked with black, brown, and white. Length 9 in.; wing 6·75 in.