316 LAFUD^T,. 



On tlie islands off the Queensland coast eggs are more common in November. On Adele 

 Island, off the North-western Australian coast, young birds unable to fly were noted on the 2nd 

 May. In the Northern Territory Gilbert was informed it bred on the sandy islands near Port 

 Essington during the months of April and May. 



Sterna bergii. 



CRKS'l'KD 'I'KRN. 



tSlerna beryii, Licht., Ver/,. Doubl., p. 80 (1S23) ; Saunders, Cat. lids. Brit. Mus., Vol. XXV., p. 89 

 (1896) ; Sharpe, Hand-l. Bds., Vol. I., p. 136 (1899). 



Tlialasseus peJecanoides, Gould, Bd.s. Austr., tol. Vol. VII., pi. '23 (1848). 



1'halassens cria/a/iis, Gould, Handlik. Bds. Austr., Vol. II., p. 394 (1865). 



Thahisseus poliocei'cns, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. VII., pi. 24 (1848) : id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., 

 Vol. II., p. 396 (1899). 



Adult M.^LK, in breeding plumage. — General coluiir idioLv, iuchidiiiy llie u-iiuj!<, (jrey,lhf prinmries 

 Diarijitied iLntli iv/iite on t.lieir iiiiifr iiyhs, e.rcepf on tlif apical partioii ; tJiti iiiwr vebs aiid tips of 

 ihe oilier secoiidaries white, the innermost secondaries like the back ; npper tail-coi-erts and tail grey, 

 of a slighth/ lig/iter shade than tlie back, the lateral tail-fenthers ivhite on the inner ivebs, except toicards 

 the lip, tlie long attenuated outerniosl featlier on. either side irhite : siiicijint, croicn of the liead, nape 

 and occipital crest deep black, this black cap, ?vhich extends on either side, enclosing the eye, is separated 

 fro)ti ihe base of the bill b// a broad white frontal band; loioer siiles of head and nape, entire hind- 

 'iieck, and all the iinder surface pure ivhite ; -under wing and nnder tail-corerts ichite ; bill chrome- 

 yellow, tinged witli green at the base : legs ami feet reddish-black, the soles yellow. Total length in 

 the flesh 19 inches, wing l-J, central tail-feathers Jpo, outermost tail-feathers 7''i, bill 2'2, tarsus l\i. 



Adult fkmalk, in breeding plumage. — Similar to the nude. 



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

 Victoria, South .Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, Islands of Bass and Torres Straits. 



f(^r\ OULD has respectively figured both the Australian and Tasmanian form of this species, 

 > — A in his folio edition of the " Birds of Australia," those birds inhabiting Torres Strait and 

 the seas and islands of North-western Australia under the name of J halasscus pclccaiioidcs, King, 



and T. poUoccvcus, Gould, 

 inhabiting the southern 

 portions of Australia, the 

 islands of Bass Strait, and 

 Tasmania. Both of these 

 names, however, must give 

 way to Lichtenstein's older 

 name of Sterna bcrgii, 

 described in 1823, from 

 specimens procured at the 

 Cape of Good Hope, South 

 Africa, and named after 

 Mr. C. H. Bergius, who 

 had been collecting there 

 for the Berlin Museum. It 

 has a wide ultra-Australian range, and according to the late Mr. Howard Saunders in the 

 " Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum," it occurs on both sides of South Africa, the Red 



CRR.STED TERN. 



