310 LARID^E. 



According to Mr. Howard Saunders in the " Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum," 

 adult birds in winter have the " crown, nape and lores streaked witii wliite and black, the latter 

 colour thickest about the eyes and ear-coverts; bill orange-red, horn colour at the tip; other- 

 wise as in summer." 



From Melbourne, Victoria, Mr. Joseph Gabriel wrote : — " I found the Caspian Tern 

 (SyloclicUdon caspia ) breeding in November, 1893, O" ^" island in I'ranklin Sound, Furneaux 

 Group, Bass Strait. Two nests were prettily placed in the open, on grassy spots near the rocky 

 summits of the island." 



In forwarding me an egg of this species, taken by him from a nest on a sand-spit on Kangaroo 

 Island, Mr. W. White wrote from the Reedbeds, near Adelaide ; — " SylochcUclon caspia acts in a 

 very remarkable manner when an intruder is approaching its nest. It flies to the leeward of one, 

 then coming up moderately near it will throw itself up on end, kick out its feet, make a piercing 

 scream, and drop a short distance, as though it was struck, recover itself, fly round and repeat 

 the same proceedings. It will do this a great number of times." 



From Broome Hill, South-western Australia, Mr. Toiu Carter wiote : — "The Caspian 

 Tern ( llydioproqiic caspia) was resident, and not at all uncommon, about the North-west Cape, 

 North-western Australia, each projecting sandy point or small island usually having a pair or 

 two. Their loud harsh notes would betray the presence of eggs or young, about which the 

 parent birds always showed much solicitude. There is apparently no regular breeding season, 

 as I have noted their eggs (usually a pair) on the 28th March, 1893, 3rd May, 1896, and en 

 several dates in August in different years, and also in September. On the gth November, 1894, 

 two fresh eggs were found. I have frei^uently seen this species at Albany, Western Australia." 



While resident at Circular Head, North-western Tasmania, Dr. Lonsdale Holden made the 

 following notes: — "On the 8ih December, 1886, I toolc a nest of SyloclicUdon caspia on the point 

 of the Seven Mile Beach, just across the Western Inlet. It had two eggs slightly incubated. 

 The nest was among the shells, just above high-water mark, a depression with some slight 

 attempt at lining of dry seaweed. I put the bird off it, when she rose with a hoarse cry, and 

 being joined by her mate flew above and close towards me, making a good deal of noise. They 

 had a way of flying up to me as I sat by the nest, and tlien raising themselves almost perpen- 

 dicularly in the air, flapping their wings, and with the mouth wide open uttering their cry 

 frequently. I noticed the mouth constantly kept open, mandibles widely gaping, even when 

 making no noise, and they reared themselves almost erect. I observed the same proceedings in 

 a pair which were frequently at the point over the Eastern Inlet, where, however, I could 

 not find the eggs. On the 21st December, 1886, I took another pair of these eggs on Crayfish 

 Island ; this is really not an island, but a rocky promontory cut off at half tide from the mainland 

 by the sea. It is nearly covered at high-water, but on the highest reef a few yards keep dry, 

 and here some dwarfed marine plants grow. In a depression among these were the eggs, which 

 were slightly incubated. On the 29th January, 1887, I found a young bird hy watching the 

 parents. Riding on I reached Crayfish Island, and saw a pair of Caspian Terns. They had 

 eggs there, so a man working close by informed me, and by the way they were flying at other 

 birds which approached the nest made the fact certain, but the tide was too high to let me get 

 on the island. The man undertook to get me the eggs next day, which he did, and I succeeded 

 in getting the chicks out of them with great difficulty. On the 19th October, 1887, I found a 

 nest with three eggs, quite fresh, in the place I found the young on the 29th January last year. 

 It was a hole in the sand, on a slight bank just above high-water mark-. Six yards away was a 

 White-breasted Oyster-catcher's nest, with two eggs." 



Mr. R. N. Atkinson has forwarded me the following notes : — " Sylochelidon caspia breeds on 

 some of the small rocky islands and reefs in Bass Strait, and off the Tasmanian Coast. My 

 father's notes made during a trip to the Furneaux Islands, in company with Mr. W. J. T. 



