HYDROPROGNK. 309 



Lake Buloke, in the W'immera District, Victoria, measure :—Lenf,'th (A) 2-15 x 1-45 inches; 

 (B), unusually small, ryi x 1-41 inches; the latter egg is figured on Plate B. XX\'., fig. 2. 



In Eastern Australia the Long-legged Tern has been found breeding from October until 

 March. In North-western .Vustralia Mr. Tom Carter found eggs on the ist May. 



Hydroprogne caspia. 



CASPIAN TERN. 



Stfrna caspia, Pallas, Nov. Comm. Petrop., Tora. XIV., p. .582 (1770). 



Sylochi'lidon streiimis, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. VII., pi. 22 (18-tS). 



SyJochdidoii caspia, Gould, llandbk. Bds. Austr,, Vol. II., p. 392 (1865). 



II>/(lrop>-o</nf caspia, Saunders, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XXV., p. 32 (189G); Sliarpe, Hand-1. 

 Bds., Vol. I., p. 134 (1899). 



Adult m.alk, in sumainr. — General colour above, including llie wings, delicate frencJi-grey, the 

 primaries darker, especially on their inner irebs : hind-neck irhite ; npper tail-coverts delicate french- 

 grey ; tail-feathers »:hile : forehead, crown of the liead and nape glossy greenish-black; remainder 

 of the plumage wliite, the wltite of the tinder parts extending in a sharply defined line from the nostril 

 behind the eye — cohere the glossy greenish-black feathers are broken by a small tvhite spot — on to the 

 sides of the nape ; nnder iviug and under tail-coverts white ; bill brilliant red, brownish-black at the 

 tip of some specimens ; legs and feet black : iris dark hroivn. Total length in the flesh .21 inches, 

 icing llj'-j, lateral tail-feathers '/■-?, bill 2''>, tarsns l-/" . 



Adult fem.alk. — Similar in /ilnmage to the male. 



Distvihution. — North-western Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales, 

 \'ictoria, South .^ustralia, Western .Australia, Tasmania. 



^^HE Caspian Tern is the largest and most powerful species of the Sub-family Sterninas 

 inhabiting the seas and shores of the coast line of Australia and Tasmania. It is also 

 an inhabitant of the Old World, being found in Europe, Asia, and Africa; also in North America. 

 In the " Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum" the late Mr. Howard Saunders enumerated, 

 among others from x\ustralia, a specimen procured in Port Jackson, New South Wales, received 

 from the Australian Museum, and another in the Gould Collection procured at Melbourne. 

 Like many other species once common in the neighbourhood of Sydney, the Caspian Tern no 

 longer frequents Port Jackson, neither has a specimen obtained in the neighbourhood of the 

 metropolis come ofiicially under my notice during a period of twenty-seven years. I have noted it 

 in Twofold Bay, and on trips from Sydney to Hohart and Melbourne also on the southern 

 shores of Victoria, in Western Port and in Bass Strait. 



It is a littoral species, and a frequenter of the adjacent islands, and does not occur inland, 

 securing its prey, which consists chiefly of fish, when swimming near the surface of the water, 

 by suddenly pouncing down on them, while on the wing, swallowing the fish, and rapidly rises 

 again. The flight of the Caspian Tern is the same as that of all other species I have seen, the 

 head curved at right angles to the body, as if continually engaged in searching the waves 

 for its finny prey. In Europe and .Asia this species often nests in colonies, but in Australia and 

 Tasmania it nests in isolated pairs. 



78 



