On the churs and sand islets in the large Indian rivers the terns are busy with their eggs, which are deposited on the bare sand.  They breed in colonies.  On the same islet are to be seen the eggs of the Indian river tern, the black-bellied tern, the swallow-plover, the spur-winged plover and the Indian skimmer.

The eggs of all the above species are of similar appearance, the ground colour being greenish, or buff, or the hue of stone or cream, with reddish or brownish blotches.  Three is the full complement of eggs.  The bare white glittering sands on which these eggs are deposited are often at noon so hot as to be painful to touch; accordingly during the daytime there is no need for the birds to sit on the eggs in order to keep them warm.  Indeed, it has always been a mystery to the writer why terns’ eggs laid in March in northern India do not get cooked.  Mr. A. J. Currie recently came across some eggs of the black-bellied tern that had had water sprinkled over them.  He is of opinion that the incubating birds treat the eggs thus in order to prevent their getting sun-baked.  This theory should be borne in mind by those who visit sandbanks in March.  Whether it be true or not, there is certainly no need for the adult birds to keep the eggs warm in the daytime, and they spend much of their time in wheeling gracefully overhead or in sleeping on the sand.  By nightfall all the eggs are covered by parent birds, which are said to sit so closely that it is possible to catch them by means of a butterfly net.  The terns, although they do not sit much on their eggs during the day, ever keep a close watch on them, so that, when a human being lands on a nest-laden sandbank, the parent birds fly round his head, uttering loud screams.

The swallow-plovers go farther.  They become so excited that they flutter about on the sand, with dragging wings and limping legs, as if badly wounded.  Sometimes they perform somersaults in their intense excitement.  The nearer the intruder approaches their eggs the more vigorous do their antics become.

Every lover of the winged folk should make a point of visiting, late in March or early in April, an islet on which these birds nest.  He will find much to interest him there.  In April many of the young birds will be hatched out.  A baby tern is an amusing object.  It is covered with soft sand-coloured down.  When a human being approaches it crouches on the sand, half burying its head in its shoulders, and remains thus perfectly motionless.  If picked up it usually remains limply in the hand, so that, but for its warmth, it might be deemed lifeless.  After it has been set down again on the sand, it will remain motionless until the intruder’s back is turned, when it will run to the water as fast as its little legs can carry it.  It swims as easily as a duck.  Needless to state, the parent birds make a great noise while their young are being handled.