THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 39 



Anous leucocapillus, White-capped Noddy. The geograph- 

 ical range is universal, occupying both sides of the Pacific and 

 Indian oceans, and, according to Sir Win. Jardine, in the West 

 African waters. Like the Petrels, this bird, and all the genus, 

 have a wandering disposition, preferring to spend their time 

 abroad, and keeping close to the islands only during breeding 

 season. Habits and food are similar to the two previously men- 

 tioned. 



Thalasseus pelecanoides, King, Torres Straits Tern. — The 

 locality is indicated by the name, and although it extends to India, 

 does not appear to be distributed to southern waters ; still its 

 congener in the Bass Strait is relative to a facsimile. The 

 different periods of incubation tend to create a distinctness in the 

 broad field of brotherhood. The disposition of the bird tends 

 towards shyness, not anxious to admit friendship with such 

 promptitude as in the case of Noddy and Sooty Terns. 



Thalasseus poliockrcus, Gould, Bass Strait Tern. — Doubt 

 exists with its connection to the previous one, as some authorities 

 think them to be the same as Sterna Bergii, Lichtenstein. This 

 Tern is the most familiar one to us in Port Phillip, especially 

 during the winter months, when flocks of ten to fifty may be 

 seen about the busy parts of the harbour. It is not an unusual 

 occurrance to shoot this species in the act of swallowing a Gar Fish ; 

 it is a " play in many acts," because, the fish being as long as the 

 bird, digestion must play its part before the whole fish can be 

 taken into stock, then there is the gar to be taken into account ; 

 on one or two occasions I have forestalled the bird, and received 

 the opportunity of having a fish breakfast, or, more properly 

 speaking, what was left of it. It is remarkable that all these 

 birds though web-footed, seldom, if ever, swim ; they dive, how- 

 ever, with facility. Crown of head markings in summer are jet 

 black ; in winter, mottled black and white. 



The third family of this order, 



PROCELLARIDyE, 



is more abundant here than in any other portion of the world, 

 which also assists towards making our list of nocturnal birds the 

 largest in the globe. Its geographical range, from east to west, is 

 found to be greater than that of any of the avifauna. Southern 

 Australia is visited during different periods of the year with about 

 forty species, possibly half of which incubate in our waters, and 

 whose powers of flight are simply wonderful, in storm as in calm, 

 as the root (procella, a storm) implies. 



This family contains the largest and smallest species of oceanic 

 birds, the former being represented with Diomedea exulans, 

 Linn., Wandering Albatross, which on rare occasions is to be 



