NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 843 



The following mouth I wa-s further north ou the fascinating 

 Abrolhos Islands, so prolific for brooding sea-birds of many kinds. 

 Here and tliere in rocky fissures, witliout the slightest nest, round about 

 the shores of Rat Island and on other rocks, I found more Brown- 

 winged Terns' eggs, which, when fresh, looked exceedingly pretty, 

 blotched and spotted with red. 



Gilbert took eggs of the Panayan or Browu-winged Teni on Abrol- 

 hos, and it is tiiithfully recoi'ded that the breeding season commences 

 in the latter part of November. In their breeding habits these Terns 

 are not gi'egarious (except when a few pairs take to a single rock), as 

 most other species of Terns are. 



It may be interesting to state that Captain Wickliam, R.N., when 

 siu-veying Houtman's Abrolhos, 1839-40, in the " Beagle," had Gilbert 

 on board. I believe there still remains to this day evidence of the 

 " Beagle " camp near two wells of good water on the northern gi'oup. 



Macgillivi-ay, during the voyage of the " Rattlesnake," informed 

 Gould that he first met the Panayan Tern on Solitary Island, near Cape 

 York, subsequently on Bramble Quay, in Torres Strait, where it was 

 breeding in small numbers, and where it deposits its single egg in holes 

 of loose, friable, coral sandstone. While turning over some dead turtle 

 shells, MacgilUvray was surprised to find beneath several of them pretty 

 Terns sitting upon their egg without any nest. 



At the end of November, 1896, on Hope Islands, about eleven miles 

 from the mouth of the Bloomfield River, Northern Queensland, Mr. D. 

 Le Souef writes : " At one end of the island Panayan Terns (Sferna 

 ancEstheia ) were noticed flying about in gTeat nvimbers and in a liigh 

 state of alann, and on going there and hunting on the giound among 

 the scanty vegetation, just above high-water mark, we succeeded in 

 finding many of their single eggs, laid on the bare ground under some 

 cover, such as the thin straggling bushes, or, more generally still, the 

 roots and leaves of pandanus pahns." 



Mr. E. M. Cornwall informs me he has found these Terns breeding 

 further south on Dunk Island, near Cardwell. 



One of Mr. Hume's informants, mentioned in " Nests and Eggs of 

 Indian Birds," states that the Panayan Tern lays two to fom- eggs on 

 mud-banks. Surely these eggs must be referable to some other species 

 of Teni. 



Breeding months, October or November to January. 



