20 BECOKDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



TuRNix MELANOTUS, Goulcl. Small Black -spotted Tvirnix. 



Gould, Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. ii., sp. 481, p. 182. 



*0£ the three small species of Turnix found in Australia, two 

 of them, T. velox and T. fyrrhotliorax, give decided preference to 

 the open grassy plains of the inland districts, while Turnix 

 melanotus is essentially an inhabitant of the low marshy ground 

 and damp scrubs contiguous to the eastern coast of Australia. 

 Near Sydney the latter species is not uncommon in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Randwick, Botany, and La Pei'ouse, localities also 

 frequented by the Least Swamp Quail, Excalfatoria cuistralis, and 

 both species, shot at Botany on the same day, have been recently 

 presented to the Museum. 



The nidification of Turnix melanotus, similar to that of other 

 members of the genus, is a scantily grass-lined hollow in the 

 ground, sheltered by a convenient tuft of grass or low bush. The 

 eggs are four in number for a sitting ; specimens obtained on 

 Mr. Boyd's plantation on the Herbert River, Queensland, on the 

 13th of December, 1890, are oval in form, tapering somewhat 

 sharply to the smaller end, the ground colour is of a greyish-white, 

 and is almost obscured with minute freckles of pale umber-brown, 

 while sparingly distributed over the surface of the shell are 

 conspicuous spots and blotches of dark slaty-grey, which in some 

 places approach an inky-black hue. Length (A) 0-97 x 0-73 inch, 

 (B) 0-98 X 0-73 inch. These eggs can easily be distinguished from 

 those of T. velox, by being much darker and the surface of the 

 shell bright and glossy. During the same month, eggs of 

 Excalfatoria australis were procured in the same locality. The 

 latter species, Mr. J. A. Boyd informs me, is very common on 

 the Herbert River. 



Sterna media, Horsfield. Crested Tern. 



Sterna media, Horsfield, Trans. Linn. Soc, 1820, xiii., p. 198. 

 Sterna hengalensis, Lesson, Traite d'Orn., p. 621 (1831); Gould, 



Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. ii., p. 327, sp. 603 (1865). 

 Thalasseus torresii, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, (1842), p. 142 ; id. 

 Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. vii. pi. 25. 



This species of Tern has a most extensive range of habitat. It 

 is found frequenting the Northern and Eastern coast of Africa, 

 the Red Sea, and the southern shores of Asia, the Indo-Malayan 

 and Austro-Malayan Archipelago, and the Northern and Eastern 

 coasts of Australia. 



Mr. H. Grensill Barnard, who has lately returned from a 

 collecting tour in the islands contiguous to the coast of North- 

 eastern Queensland, has kindly sent the following interesting 



* North, Kec. Austr. Mus., Vol. i.. No. 9, October, 1891. 



