298 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1891. 



resident, breeding abundantly during May and June on the plain 

 between the Camp and Clifton, where I, in company with Mr. 

 Murray, have taken many eggs, A friend, to whom I wrote two 

 3'ears ago, informed me that the birds had all but deserted the place, 

 and that it was only by the most careful search and after going 

 several times that he managed to secure two clutches for me. The 

 eggs, two in number,, never more, are placed in slight natural depres- 

 sions in the ground, in hoof prints, cart ruts, or else on tiny hillocks, 

 but always where the ground is comparatively hard and dry, and 

 slightly elevated above the surrounding damp soil ; they do not seem 

 to scratch holes for themselves. 



In shape they are moderately broad ovals, a good deal pointed 

 towards one end. They are fine in texture, but very fragile. 



The ground-colour is a clayey-brown, and they seem to keep fairly 

 true to the type, not exhibiting such extreme variations as most 

 Tern-eggs do. The marking are specka and spots, thinly scattered 

 over the whole surface of the shell, with here and there a niggly 

 scratch or line, with an occasional blotch or smudge of the same 

 shade of colour ; the secondary markings are larger, and, if anything, 

 more numerous, and are of a faint soft lilac-grey or pale inky-purple. 



They average about 1*2 inches in length by nearly 0*9 in breadth. 



Karachi, May and June. H. jE. Barnes. 



989.— THE LARGE SEA TERN. 



Sterna bergii, Licht. 



The Large Sea or Crested Tern is common all along our coasts, 

 and breeds abundantly on the island of Astolah, on the Mekran Coast, 

 on the islands at the head of the Persian Gulf, and I myself have 

 procured large series of eggs from islands off the Somali Coast. 



Colonel Butler found them breeding during May, but mine were 

 obtained in August. 



They breed in immense colonies, the birds almost touching each 

 other as they sit, this they do to protect their eggs from the Gulls 

 and other birds, who destroy them whenever they get an opportunity. 



The full number of eggs in a clutch is three, but occasionally two 

 fully incubated eggs will be found ; there is no nest, the eggs being 



