NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 847 



forward to with some anxiety, and by four o'clock there is an egg to 

 eveiy square foot of siuface. 



This wonderful regularity of laying, if usual, may be said to eclipse 

 the regularity of the famous Mutton Birds (Piiffinus tenuirostrix). 

 Moreover, the majority of these birds usually lay at night or early in 

 the momingj not in the afternoon. 



Nesting months in southern localities appear to be November, 

 December and January. Within the Tropics, April, May, and June 



The illustration, " Flight of Sooty Terns," was taJien on Rat Island, 

 Houtman's Abrolhos. 



648. — .Steuna nekeis. fJould. — (607) 

 WHITE-FACED TERNLET. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vii., pi. 29. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxv., p. 112. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Gould : Birds of Australia (1848) ; 

 also Handbook, vol. ii., p. 402 {1S65) ; Potts: Trans. New 

 Zealand Inst., vol. ii., p. 77 (1870); Ramsay: Proc. Linn. 

 See, N.S. Wales, vol. vii., p. 59 (1S82) ; Buller : Birds of New 

 Zealand (1S731, also vol. ii. p. 76 (1S88) ; North: Austn. Mus. 

 Cat., p 358 (18S9), and app. ii. (iSgo). 



GengrapliirciJ Dixfribufion. — Seas of Queensland, New South Wales, 

 Victoria, South and West Australia and Tasmania ; also New Zealand. 



Nest. — Merely a slight depression in the sand or shingle. Usually 

 on islands, singly or in small gi-oups. 



Ei/ffs. — Clutch, two, occasionally three ; oval in shape ; texture 

 of shell fine ; sruiace, faint trace of gloss ; colour, warm stony- 

 grey, mediiunly blotched with dark umber and gi'ey. Some of the 

 markings have the appearance of having been smudged. Dimensions 

 in inches of a pair: (1) 1-5 x -92, (2) 1-42 x 1-0. (Plate 24.) 



Ohservations. — The faiiy-like little Tern — the smallest of its race — 

 is found in AustraUan seas, chiefly south of the Tropics and New Zealand. 

 Mr. Masters' S. incnnspkua is now deemed to be identical with S. nereis, 

 probably in seasonal change. 



Gould, or rather Gilbert, mentions the immense flock of Temlets 

 during the breeding season on Rottnest and Garden Islands on the 

 western coast, where, I think, they breed in small groups. 



It was from Camach or Garden Island I I'eceived a small series of 

 eggs, from kindly disposed fishermen. On Pelsart Island, Abrolhos, 

 I myself took a few pairs of eggs of Little Terns, which were nesting on 

 a coral ridge in close proximity to a colony of Roseate Terns. Date, 

 23rd November, 1889. The coloui'ations of both species of eggs 

 hamionize in a remarkable degree with their siuTovm dings. Yoimg in 

 down of this Tern are dull or yellowish-white ; bill and feet light-yellow. 



