NESTS AND EGGS OF ACSTRALIAN BIRDS. 84 1 



The eggs of the White-fronted Tern in my collection were taken 

 in New Zealand by that enthusiastic naturalist, Mr. J. Percy Seymour. 



Mr. Seymoiu' lorwardcd the following interesting data wibli the speci- 

 mens : — " The Southern Tern breeds in great numbers on a small rock 

 lying a hltle dibUuiLC from Uceau Beacli, near JJimediu. It is called 

 Tomahawk Iskuid. I visited it on the 22nd November, 1883, and formd 

 literally thousands of eggs, laid in slight depressions of the groimd 

 without nests among maritime herbage, often so closely together that 

 it was impossible to step among them without treading on them. There 

 were usually two eggs in one nest, and occasionally (or rather fre- 

 quently) three. Many were hard set. On the same date, the following 

 year, a few eggs (fifty or sixty) were found on the same rock, and these 

 having been taken, the birds deserted it. 



The late Mr. T. H. Potts remarked that the Southern Tern (men- 

 tioned under the synonym, Sterna lonyipennis, deposits its egg on the 

 bare rock, without the slightest protection, at a distance vaiying from 

 five to six feet and upwards from the line of high tide ; the egg must 

 often lie within reach of heavy showers of spray. Mr. Potts boheved 

 that this Tern invaiiably laid a single egg, but he was aware others 

 entertained a different opinion. On a i"ocky point in Port Cooper he 

 obsei-ved about two hundi'ed birds breeding, end except in three cases 

 only, the eggs were solitary. The young, covered with mottled-grey 

 down, varying in shade to almost brown, are quite helpless for two or 

 three weeks after hatcliing, and appear unable to attempt securing 

 safety by swimming like young Gulls when alarmed. 



Sir Walter BuUer writes : " My son Percy, in December, observed 

 a vast crowd of Southern Terns on a small rock island near the Tarauaki 

 Sugar Loaves. This is a favourite breeding gi'ound, and the birds 

 were so closely packed that from the deck of the steamer they presen- 

 ted the appearance of a fall of snow. On one occasion the crew of the 

 ' Hinemoa ' landed at the place and collected several bucketfuls of eggs. 



" On the small island of Motiti I found a large community of them 

 occupying one end of it and the Red-billed Gulls the other, the two 

 nesting places being as far apart as possible. On the high intervening 

 ground the Black-backed Gull had estabhshed a breeding place. 



" On its nesting grounds being invaded tliis Tern shows fight in a 

 vei-y detennined manner, by coming in a bee-line at the intruder's face 

 till within a couple of feet, and then darting. oft' at a sharp angle, with a 

 snapping ciy of remonstrance. Captain Fairchild has known them even 

 bolder, and has had his hat knocked off by the rapid actions of their 

 wings. By the end of Februaiy the yoimg birds have joined the 

 general community on the sandbanks, but they may be easily distin- 

 guished by the dark plumage of their upper surface and their more 

 sibilant cry." 



