312 LAKID/E. 



iifitr (heir s/ia/ln : cenlnif tail-fealliers ilftlicnlH /irarli/rrij passim/ lulii almost pure loliite on (lie hm;/, 

 at(,enua(e,d o>Ue,rmosl feadier oil either aide ; forehead, iijiper jiurtioti of the lores, croivti of (lie Iiead 

 and iiape black ; remainder of (lie, plnmaye pare white ivith a t'mije of rose colour on the ceii(re of 

 (lie breast and alxloinen : bdl orange-red, blackish at t/if dp: leys and f'^et oramje-red, nails black. 

 Tolal length l-l-'i inches, a-ing S-'i, central tail-f'alhers :-.'-5, outer tail-feathers I!, bill l-'>2 (arsus ()'7'>. 



Adult female, in breeding plumage. — Similar in plumage to (lie male. 



Distribution. — Western Australia, North-western Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland, 

 islands of Torres Strait. 



^1^11 ii present species was described by Gould in the " Proceedinf;sof the Zoological Society," 

 -I- in 1845, and in his "Handbook to the Birds of Australia '" ' he remarks: — "This graceful 

 and elegant Tern was killed by Gilbert on the Houtman Abrolhos, off the western coast of 

 Australia, where he states it is very numerous ; continuously moving about from one part of the 

 island to another, and settling during the best part of the day on the coral ridges in large flocks. 

 He was informed that it breeds in great numbers during the month of November, but he was 

 unfortunately too late to procure its eggs, which are said to be two in number, and to be deposited 

 on the ground in a slight hollow among the loose coral ridges." Its range extends to the 

 contiguous islands of North-western Australia, the Northern Territory, the islands of Torres 

 Strait, and those lying between the north-eastern coast of Queensland and the Great Barrier 

 Reef. iMr. Otto Lipfert, collecting on behalf of the Perth Museum, procured eggs on Long 

 Island, Houtman Abrolhos, on the 6th December, 1894, some of which were subse(]uently 

 received by the Trustees of the Australian Museum. On the opposite side of the continent Mr. 

 Thos. P. Austin received two sets of eggs, taken on the 27th October, 1901, on one of the 

 I'ranklami Islands, lying off the entrance to tlie Russell River, North-eastern Queensland. On 

 the nth October, 1907, Mr. Allan K. McCulloth, in company with Mr. B. Jardine, found this 

 species breeding on a small island to the north-east of Albany Island, recently hatched young in 

 down, together with the parents, being procured. In the same locality Mr. W. McLennan, also 

 in company with Mr. B. Jardine, obtained fresh eggs on the 2nd October, 1910. A month later 

 Dr. \V. Macgillivray found the breeding season on this island over, only a few deserted nests 

 with eggs being noted, also young ones concealing themselves in the grass. 



In the "Catalogue of kSirds in the British Museum," Mr. Howard Saunders placed 

 Sterna gracilis, Gould, as a synonym of Sterna dougalli, Montague. The former, however, is 

 smaller in all its measurements, otherwise there is not much to distinguish it from the well- 

 known Roseate Tern, so common in the seas of the Northern Hemispheres. 



Mr. C. G. Gibson writes from Pertli, Western Australia: — " During our trip to Houtman 

 Abrolhos, in November, 1907, we noted a large colony of the Graceful Tern (Sterna gracilis) on 

 Pelsart Island, but we were too early for eggs. We were informed that they bred in large 

 numbers on that island in December." 



Dr. W. Macgillivray wrote as follows from Broken Hill, South-western New South Wales : — 

 " Mr. W. McLennan, visiting Bush Island, a small rocky island to the north of Albany island, 

 and about three miles from Somerset, Northern Queensland, on 2nd October, 1910, found Sterna 

 gracilis nesting freely on the grass-covered summit of the island, the nests consisting of depressions 

 worked in the coarse wind-flattened grass, and each containing a pair of eggs. When I visited 

 this island on the 3rd of November, 1910, in company with Mr. McLennan and Dr. Dobbyn, 

 nesting had finished, a few deserted nests still contained eggs, and some young birds were found 

 hiding in the grass. 1 fretjuently observed the birds on our voyage up amongst the islands of 

 the Barrier Reef, either hovering over the islands in pairs or ' hawking ' for fish over the sea, 

 but never anywhere in numbers." 



* Gould, Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. II., p. 399 (1865). 



