vary from an almost pure white and skim-milk white to a faint creamy, reddish or huffy-white, 

 over which is sparingly distributed irregular-shaped spots and blotches of purplish and purplish- 

 grey, witli which are intermin,>;led faint underlying markings of dull bluish-grey, the markings 

 as a rule predominating, and on many specimens confined almost entirely to the thicker end. 

 Some eggs have penumbral markings, or blurred longitudinal streaks, being of a purplish-red in 

 the centre and gradually shading off into a very much paler hue at the sides, dark purplish-red 

 or overlying darker underlying markings of purplish-,L;rey, the latter colour appearing as if it had 

 been laid on wet with a brush, and then smeared. A not uncommon type has a zone of inter- 

 mingled, very short line wavy streaks, or lines and spots ot purplish-red or purplish-grey 

 on the thicker end, intermingled with similar wavy markings of faint bluish-grey, the remainder 

 of the shell being almost devoid of markings. On two specimens now before me there are only 

 a few very faint purplish-red dots and hair-lines on the larger end. Eight eggs picked out of a 

 series in the Australian Museum Collection, to show their variation in size, measure as follows : — 

 Leni;th (A) vyh x 1-27 inches; (B) 179 x 1-29 inches; (C) 1-85 x 1-27 inches; (D) 174 x 

 1-22 inches; (E) 178 x 1-26 inches; (E) 177 x 1-28 inches; (G) i-fij x 1-3 inches; (H) 

 1-82 X 1-31 inches. Two eggs taken by the late Dr. P. H. Afetcalfe, on Phillip Island, near 

 Norfolk Island, on the 17th November, 1885, measure ;— Length (A) i-68 x 1-21 inches; (B) 

 177 X 1-29 inches. An elongated specimen taken on Norfolk Island on the gth December, 

 1893, measures: — Length 1-95 x 1-26 inches. Dr. Metcalfe also collected skins and took eggs 

 of this species on Fanning Island, in the North Pacific, in November, 1912. 



Young birds resemble the adults, but may be distinguished by their smaller bill and shorter 

 tail ; the cap on the forehead and crown is much smaller and of a dull white, the nape and hind- 

 neck being sooty blackish-brown like the back. Total length 9-2 inches, wing 5-2, tail 3, bill i-i. 



September and the three following months constitute the usual breeding season on the 

 islands adjacent to the coast of North-eastern Australia. On Norfolk Island the breeding season 

 usually commences in November. 



Gygis Candida. 



WHI'I'IO TEi;\. 

 Slfrna i-aii(liili(, Gmel., Syst. Nat., Tom. I., p. IJ07 (17^8). 



f,y</''^' c^'"^"'", (^ould, iids. Austr., fol. Vol. VIE, pi. 30 (l8tS); i,l., Ha.ulbk. IWs. Austr., Vol. 

 II., p. 405 (186.5); Saunders, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XXV., p. 149 (1896). 

 Auri.T MALK, in brcfding plumage.— vlftoiv au,/ b^'Join pure ivhile : around, the eye a narrow 

 riu;, of Ij/nd-M feathers ; bill black, hlnish at the base : le,,s awl feel blackish-browa, the webs oraage ; 

 iris blue. Total length in the jlesh 1J;J inches, iviir;/ OS, central tail-feathers 3-25, outer tail- 

 feathers 4'3, bill 17, tarsus 0'G2. 



Adult fkmalk, in breeding plumage. — Sitnilnr to the male. 



Distri.bntion.^Oaeens\a.nd (Gould), Norfolk Island. 

 (^CCOKDING to Gould the White Tern "visits the whole of the south- (north) eastern 

 X^ coast of Australia, from Moreton Bay to Cape York."- In his "Tabular List of 

 Australian Birds,"! Dr. E. P. Ramsay records it as inhabiting Port Darwin and Port Essington, 



• Gould, Bds. j\.ustr., fol. Vol. VII., opp. pi. 30 (1S4S) ; id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. II., p. 405 v'Ses). 

 t Ramsay. Tab. Li.st Aus:r. Bds , 2nd edit., p. 23 (188S). 



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