CEYLON RAILS, WADERS, GULLS, AND TERNS. 251 
Habits —Frequents sheets of fresh water and_ brackish 
lagoons rather than the open coast. Most of our birds are 
migrant, but some remain all the year. The majority of these 
are immature specimens in winter plumage, but some, as 
Capt. Legge noticed, were in breeding dress, so a lookout may 
be kept for breeding birds. The eggs are of the usual type, 
and measure about 2 by 1:46. 
STERNA MEDIA (Blanford, Vol. IV., p. 313 ; Legge, p. 1030). 
The Smaller Crested Tern. 
(Plate II., fig. 12.) 
Description —Summer : A black cap from the forehead to 
the nape coming as far down as the lower edge of the eye ; the 
crest also is jet-black ; back, wings, and tail pearl-gray. The 
lower parts and a collar round the neck are white. The 
outer tail feathers are sometimes whitish ; the primary quills 
when fresh are frosted silver-gray on the outer web; the 
inner webs are brownish-gray near the shaft, otherwise 
white. 
In winter the nape and a band from it to the front of the eye 
remain black ; the feathers of the crown are black with white 
borders ; the forehead and lores are white. 
Young birds bear the winter dress of adults, with some 
brown on the lesser wing coverts, the tertiaries, and tail. 
Bill yellow ; iris brown ; legs and feet black, the soles pale 
yellow. 
Length about 16-5, less in winter plumage, when the tail is 
shorter ; wing 12 ; tail in summer 6°75, in winter may be only 
5 ; depth of fork 2-3 ; tarsus 1:00 ; bill from gape 2°8. 
Distribution —Common all round the coast during the north- 
east monsoon. A migrant species common in winter on the 
coast of India, but rarer in Burma. Extends from the shores 
of the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean, breeding on sand 
banks in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea. 
Habits —This species frequents lagoons and sheets of open 
water near the sea as well as the open coast, but it never goes 
far inland. It often associates in large flocks, and may be 
met with several miles out at sea. 
11 6(9)16 
