PROCELSTKKNA. 



335 



latter hue. A rarer type has the small irregular-shaped spots and blotches, intermingled with 

 short angular streaks. Four eggs in the Australian Museum Collection, taken by Messrs. \V. 

 J. Grime and J. "^"ardley, at the Tweed River Heads, on the 7th October, i88g, measure: — 

 Length (A) 1-28 --. 0-95 inches; (B) 1-27 x 0-94 inches; (C) i-i8 x 0-95 inches; (D) 1-25 x 

 Q-g inches. A set of three taken in the same locality on the 3rd December, iSgo, measures: — 

 Length (A) 1-25 x 0-93 inches; (B) 1-23 x 0-94 inches; (C) 1-21 x 0-94 inches. Threesingle 

 eggs, the latter two of which were much incubated, taken on the same date, measure : — Length 

 (A) 1-43 X o-gS inches; (B) 1-25 x 0-96 inches; (C) 1-33 x 0-98 inches; the latter egg is 

 represented on Plate B. XXV., hg. 'JO. .\ set of three eggs in Mr. Thos. P. Austin's collection, 

 taken on the 17th November, 1907, on X'ictoria Island, off Mackay, on the Oueensland coast, 

 measures: — Length (A) 1-3 x o-g6 inches; (B) 1-23 x o'g3 inches ; (C) 1-25 x o-g6 inches. 



In Eastern Australia, October and the three following months constitute the usual breeding 

 season ; in some seasons young birds may be found in the nesting-place in the middle of 

 February. 



C3en-aS ^'^BOCJEIjS'T'EISI^-A., Lafresne. 



Procelsterna cinerea. 



GREY NODDY. 

 Auous cinereus, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1845, p. 104 ; l.l., Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. VII., pi. 37 (1848). 

 Procelsterna albiriUa, Gould, Handlik. Bds. Austr., Vol. 11., p. 420 (1865). 



Pi-ocelaierna cinerea, Hnunders, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XX V., p. 135 (189G) ; Sharpp, Hand-1. 

 Bds., Vol. I., p. 137 (1899). 



Adult male, in breeding plumage. — General aiJour above, inclwl'tnci the rrinffs and tail, light 

 qreij, the primaries distincthj darker, the outer ireh of the first primary hlackish-yrey ; head light 

 silver i/-grerj, becoming slight/// darker on the nape and hind-neck : a ring of feathers around the eye 

 black on the anterior portion, white on the posterior ; tliroat and all the tinder surface light silvery- 

 grey, sliqhlly darker on the sides of the fore-neck and loiver flanks, >r/iitish on the abdomen ; bill black. ; 

 le(fs and feet reddish-brown, wehs yellon\ 'l\}tal lengtli in tlte flesh, ll;j inches, wing S, outer tail- 

 feathers .'fO, central tail-feathers 2'(J, hill I'l, larsns I'l. 



Adult female, in breediug plumage. — Similar in plumage to the male. 



Diitribution. — " Eastern and North-eastern coasts of Australia" (Gould), Lord Howe Island, 

 Norfolk Island. 



/T^ HE Grey Noddy Tern was originally described by Gould in the " Proceedings (jf the 

 J_ Zoological Society of London," in 1845, the habitat there being recorded as the" North- 

 eastern coasts of Australia." In the " Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum," the late Mr. 

 Howard Saunders enumerates a specimen from Australia, presented by Sir Thomas Mitchell, 

 and another one from his own collection, also from .Australia. Dr. E. P. Ramsay, in his " Tabular 

 List of ,\ustralian Birds," records it from Port Darwin and Port Essington (Northern Territory) 

 and New South Wales. 



It shares, however, with the White Tern the distinction of being the rarest species of the 

 Sub-family STERXix.ii in Australian waters. I have never seen a specimen or known, other than 

 those referred to above, of a properly authenticated record of it being obtained in the seas or in 

 the islands contiguous to the northern or north-eastern coasts, or of any other part of .Vustralia. 

 All the specimens in the Australian Museum Collection were obtained principally on Lord Howe 

 and Norfolk Islands, and a few others on different islands of the South Pacific. The late Mr. 

 John MacGillivray obtained it, during the \'oyage of H.M.S. " Herald," on Sunday Island, in 



