STERNA. 315 



came to the surface at intervals. Afterwards they were met with at intervals all the way up the 

 coast, but no nesting place was discovered on any of the islands visited. They hunt for fish in 

 small companies, like the Noddies, but were occasionally seen in pairs returning to the islands 

 at night to roost; it is then they are pounced upon by the ever watchful Frigate birds 

 (Attngcn minor ) and forced to disgorge their hard earned fish." 



Mr. J. Walker, K.N., of H.M.S. "Penguin," writing on the Bird life of Adcle Island, North- 

 western Australia, remarks : — " Two or three species of Tern were observed on the wing, 

 notably the large and powerful Sterna caspia, Pallas, and Sterna media, Horsfield, the latter being 

 abundant and very noisy and restless. . . . A little way inland, on a spot comparatively open and 

 bare of vegetation, was a breeding station of Horslield's Tern (Sterna media). It was much too 

 late (2nd May, 1891) to obtain the eggs of this bird, as the young ones, in a prettily spotted 

 stage of plumage, were nearly as large as the adults, though as yet unable to fly, and they 

 waddled along before me like so many ducklings. Only a few empty and broken egg-shells 

 were to be found." 



From Broome Hill, South-western Australia, Mr. Tom Carter wrote: — "Sterna media was 

 frequently seen about Point Cloates, North-western Australia, in the summer months." 



Mr. II. C. Barnard, in sending me the eggs of this species, together with a skin of one of 

 the birds for identification, wrote as follows: — "In conversation with the keeper of a fishing 

 station on a small island, about six miles south of North Barnard Island, lying off the coast of 

 North-eastern Queensland, I learnt that a species of Tern was breeding in great numbers on a 

 small sandbank thirty miles due east of the latter island, and close to the Great Barrier Reef. 

 I took my gun and went on board one of the fishing boats ; sail was set soon after, but I did not 

 reach the scene of operations until Monday morning, the 23rd November, i8gi. The bank was 

 a very small one, not more than twenty yards across, and three or four feet above high water in 

 the centre. On approaching we could see the Terns sitting on the sand in hundreds; also 

 several of a very much larger species of sea-bird, which I ascertained afterwards on landing 

 were engaged in eating the Tern's eggs, as I found a great number of the latter with a hole 

 picked in the side. The eggs of the Terns were placed on the bare sand, one to each bird for a 

 sitting, and so close together as only to give the birds room to sit ; there could have been no 

 less than five or si.x hundred eggs on that portion of the bank occupied. Though the birds had 

 been breeding more than a month, there were no young ones, the fishermen informing me that 

 the larger species we saw on the bank devoured the young ones directly they were hatched. I 

 shot two of the parent birds, and the tnen collected about two buckets full of eggs to cook." 



The eggs are typically oval in form, but vary to elongate oval, some of which are rather 

 pointed at the smaller end, and occasionally pyriform, the shell being comparatively close-grained, 

 dull and lustreless. They vary from a chalky white to a delicate reddish-white, over which is 

 fairly evenly distributed rounded dots, spots and blotches of purplish and reddish-brown, and 

 similar underlying markings of faint bluish and pearl-grey ; others are uniformly dotted and 

 spotted, or have short streaks, and are devoid of the larger blotches, while some are sparingly 

 marked, principally on the thicker end, with large reddish-black or sooty-black clouded patches 

 and a few small dots and spots of the same hues scattered over the remainder of the shell. The 

 larger blotched types are handsome and conspicuous eggs, and as a rule all the outer markings 

 are mostly penumbral. Seven specimens measure: — Length (A) 2-02 x i-^j inches; (B) 2-i 

 X 1-4 inches; (C) 2-05 x 1-43 inches ; (D) 2-08 x 1-42 inches; (E) 2-16 x 1-41 inches; (F) 

 2*1 X 1-42 inches; (G) I'gS x i'4i inches. The latter two eggs are represented on Plate B. 

 XXIV., figs. 7 and 8. Three eggs in Mr. Thos. P. Austin's collection, taken on the 15th 

 November, 1904, on Upolo Bank, lying off Cairns, North-eastern Queensland, measures: — 

 Length (.'\) 2-oi x 1-43 inches; (B) 2-09 x 1-47 inches; (C) 2'02 x 1-55 inches. 



