BIRDS NOT PREVIOUSLY RECORDED FROM SIAM. 63 



There is a specimen of this Tern in the British Museum from 

 the Pakchan Estnarj'. As the Pakchan river, in its lower readies, 

 forms the boundary Isetween Siamese ami Britisli territory, a bird 

 obtained in the Estuaiy of that river cannot, I think, be claimed as a 

 definite Siamese record, which the present one is. 



20. Sterna an^stheta. Tlie Panayan Tern. 



On the 27th June 191G my collector obtained a specimen 

 of this bird on a rocky islet near Koh Phai, Inner Gulf of Siam, 

 together with example.s of S. mdanauchen (The Black-naped Tern) 

 and S. her(jn ( The Large Crested Tern ), as well as numerous 

 ei'cs apparent!}^ belonging to the two first-named species. He 

 also brought with him some eggs of S. henjii, obtained by Mr. 

 C. H. Forty on a similar islet on 1.5th Jane, and kindly sent 

 up to me by that gentleman. Subsequentl}', in company with 

 Mr. Forty, I visited these islets, as well as some others near Koh 

 Rin, a little further south, on the 17th and ISt^h July, and pro- 

 cured several more examples of all three Terns. S. aiuestheta and 

 /S'. meZa9iai(c/(e?i were particularly numerous near Koh Rin. The few 

 eggs we found were mostly addled, but two chicks were observed, trying 

 to escape notice bj' snuggling away in crevices of the rocks, with their 

 bills and heads wedged in as far as possible ! 



It maj' be of interest to note here that, on the occasion last 

 mentioned, we obtained a beautifid specimen (one of a pa'iv) of Sterna 

 dijuijalli (The Roseate Tern), with the delicate, almost invisible, pink 

 sufi'usion on the white of the under-parts. Tha only other record of 

 this bird from Siam, of which I am aware, is that by Mr. H. C. Robin- 

 son from Koh Sannii and Koh Pennan, Peninsular Siam (-Journ. Fed. 

 Malay States Mas., V. (1915), p. 1-1'2), but I believe it is not uncommon 

 — at all events at certain seasons — at the head of the Gulf of Siam. 

 I have, on more than one occasion, when crossing the bar of the Chao 

 l^hraya river outward bound from Bangkok, observed small white 

 Terns, with red bills and feet, which I believe to be of this species, follow- 

 ing the steamer. On every such occasion they have dropped off after 

 a few miles — a circumstance probably accounted for by the fact that 

 this bird, although a sea Tern, is a coastal form. 



'Z\. SuLA SULA. The Booby or Brown Gannet. 



When visiting the islets near Koii Rin, Inner Gulf 



VOL. n, JliNE 191C. 



