STEKNA. ;33'5 



Gilbert on Iloutman Abrolhos, and there is a set of eg^s in the Australian Museum, taken on 

 Wallaby Island, in that group, on the ist December, 1894. I^ h^-s been recorded by various 

 observers, on islands adjacent to the coast of South-western Australia and South Australia, the 

 late Mr. George Masters procuring specimens at Port Lincoln in October, 1S65, and Mr. \V. 

 White found it breeding on several occasions on Kangaroo Island. It is not uncommon in 

 Tasmanian and Southern X'ictorian waters and some of the islands of Bass Strait. I have never 

 seen or heard of an example being obtained anywhere on the New South Wales coast or 

 contiguous islands, it being there represented by Sh-i'iia simiisis. 



From the Reed I3eds near Adelaide, South Australia, Mr. W. White wrote me as follows : — 

 " I am sending you two clutches of two and three eggs of Slti'iia nciris, taken on a small 

 island in a salt lake on Kangaroo Island, South Australia, on the 24th October, 1886, by A. and 

 W. White. Many nests were seen along a ridge of shell wash, mostly two eggs in each, 

 sometimes three." 



From Ikoome Hill, South-western Australia, Mr. Tom Carter wrote: — "Sterna nci'cis was 

 only occasionally seen about Point Cloates, North-western Australia, but it is not uncommon 

 about Albany Harbour, in South-western Australia." 



Two eggs are usually laid for a sitting, sometimes three, but one only is not infrequently 

 found. They vary from o\'aI to elongate-oval in form, some specimens being rather pointed at 

 the smaller end ; the sliell being close-grained, smooth and lustreless. Usually the groundcolour 

 is either dull wliite, faint creamy-white, very pale coffee-brown, or stone-grey, over which is 

 fairly evenly distributed rounded freckles and spots, and a few irregular-shaped small blotches 

 of black or brownish-black, with similar underlying mark'ings of faint bluish or inky-grey ; others 

 are sparingly dotted and spotted with different shades of umber-brown or brownish-black, and 

 have an irregular zone of large conspicuous blotches of the same hue on the thicker end, or 

 around the middle of the shell, with similar underlying markings of inky or bluish-grey. On 

 some specimens a few of the markings are in the form of short irregular streaks or hair lines, on 

 others, especially when heavily blotched, they may be penumbral or one colour partially 

 overlying another. A set of three eggs, taken by Mr. W. White on the 24th October, 1S86, on 

 Kangaroo Island, close to the South Australian Coast, measures: — Length (A) i-48 x i inches; 

 (B) 1-47 X I inches; (C) i'38 x o-gS inches. A set of two taken on the same date measures : — 

 Length (.V) 1-42 x 0-98 inches; (B) 1-5 x 0-98 inches; the latter egg is represented on Plate 

 B. XXV., fig. 17. A single egg, taken Liy Mr. E. D. Atkinson on the 14th November, i88g, on 

 Walker's Island, in Bass Strait, measures: — Len;^th i'33 x I'oi inches. Two single eggs 

 received from Mr. J. Kershaw, and taken in November, 1893, ^' Port Albert, Victoria, 

 measure: — Length (A) 1-39 x 0-99 inches ; (B) 1-42 x i inches. A set of two in the Australian 

 Museum Collection, taken on the ist December, 1894, o'^ Wallaby Island, Houtman Abrolhos, 

 Western Australia, measures: — Length (A) 1-29 x 1-02 inches; (B) 1-3 x o'gS inches. 



October and the three following months constitute the usual breeding season in Victoria, 

 South Australia, the islands of Bass Strait and Tasmania. Nests with eggs are, however, more 

 common at the latter end of November and in December. 



Sterna sinensis. 



BLACK-LORE D TERN. 



<SVe>-«a .s'inewsis, Gmel., Syst. Nat., Tom. I., p. 608 (1788); Saunders, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. 

 XXV., p. 113 (1896) ; Sharpe, Hand-L Bds., Vol. I., p. 13G (1899). 



Steraula placens, Gould, Bds. New Guinea, Vol. V., pi. 72 (1876). 



Adult male, in breeding plumage. — Like the adult male q/' Sterna nereis, Gould, but the white 

 oil the forehead extending at tlie sides in a narrow line over the eye, and having a drill black sagittate 

 84 



