NESTS AXD EGGS OF .ITiTff.l/i/.l.V BIRDS. 84Q 



with the eggs and forwai-ded for identification." In the same district, 

 at the Clarence Heads. Mr. S. W. Jackson found a small colony of 

 White-shafted Tcmlcts nesting on the sands. Tlie clutches contained 

 two or three eggs, mostly the latter nvunber. Date, 9th November, 

 1894. 



It is somewhat remarkable that the habits of a bird foimd in southern 

 localities differ in its northern habitat. For instance, according to 

 Mr. Hume, the White-shafted Tenilet (if it really be that species) is 

 reckoned a river Tern in India, laying a complement of four eggs on the 

 sand banks, instead of laying a pair of eggs on the seashore, as in the 

 southern tropics. Mr. Hume also remarks that the eggs of this Ternlet, 

 more perhaps than any othei-s, change colour with keeping, even although 

 all light be rigidly excluded. 



650. — Sterna melanaithen, Teniminck. — (606) 

 BLACK-XAPED TERN. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vii., pi. 2%. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxv., p. 126. 



Previous Dexripliens of Eggs. — Campbell : Southern Science Record 

 (1883), also Nests and Eggs .\ustn. Birds, pi. 3, fig. 606 (1883) ; 

 North : Austn. Mus. Cat., p. 356 (1889) ; Hume — Dales : Nests 

 and Eggs of Indian Birds, vol. iii., p. 302 (1890). 



Gengrapliical Distribution. — Seas of North-west AustraUa, Northern 

 TerritoiT, Queensland, and New South Wales ; also Fiji and Polynesia 

 in general, Malayan Archipelago, Philippine Islands, Cliina Sea and 

 North Indian Ocean. 



Xesf. — A slight hollow in the sand, just above high-water mark, on 

 islands, usually coral. 



Ei/f/x. — Clutch, two ; oval in shape ; texture of shell comparatively 

 fine ; surface without gloss ; colour, vanes, but usually a delicate stony- 

 gi'ev, moderatelv mai^ked all over with large spots and blotches, chiefly 

 of innber and dull gi'cy, the dtill-grey or underlying blotches being more 

 numei'ous. Dimensions in inches of a proper pair: (1) 1-62 x 1-13, 

 (2) 1-59 X 1-12; of a smaller-sized set: (1) 1-54 x M, (2) 1-52 x M. 



Ohxervafionii. — This smaller and elegant Tern would appear generally 

 to frequent the islands of the tropical Indian and Western Pacific 

 Oceans. Mr. Howard Satmders has remarked that its range appears 

 to be dependent in a great measiure upon the existence of coral islands 

 of a certain size. 



Gould says the Black-naped Tern is one of the most beautifid species 

 of its genus, and may be distinguished from all the others by the snowy 

 whiteness of its croviai and by tlie deep gorget-shaped black mark on 

 the occiput. 

 54 



