NATATORES. 411 



Sp. 612. ONYCIIOPRION PANAYENSIS. 

 Panatan Tern. 



Sterna panaijensis, Gmcl. Edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., torn. i. p. 607. 



panaya, Lath. Ind. Oru., vol. ii. p. 808. 



L' Hirondelle de mer de Panay, Sonn. Voy., p. 125. pL 84. 

 Panayan Tern, Lath. Gen. Syn., vol. vii. p. 363. 

 //fl/zjy/anfljoflWfl?/ens26',Bonap.Compt.llend. de I'Acad. Sci.,1856, p. 772. 



Onychoprion panaya, Gould, Birds of Australia, fol., voL vii. pi. 33. 



This bird visits many parts of the coasts of Australia, 

 particularly those of the western side of the continent. It 

 was found on the Houtmann's Abrolhos by Gilbert, who 

 remarks that it commences breeding in the latter part of 

 November, and that during the period of incubation it differs 

 in its habits from all the other allied species, inasmuch as, 

 instead of being gregarious, each pair remains solitary, and 

 its single egg is deposited in the fissure of a rock close to the 

 water's edge without any nest or flooring ; he further states 

 that it was very seldom seen at Port Essington, but that a 

 great number flew around the ship during his voyage from 

 thence to Singapore. Mr. Macgillivray informs me that he 

 first met with it on Solitary Island, near Cape York ; subse- 

 quently it was found on Raine's Islet by the late Commander 

 Ince, R.N., and by himself on Bramble Quay, in Torres 

 Straits, where it was breeding in small numbers, and where 

 it deposits its single egg in the holes of the loose friable coral 

 sandstone ; and it was here, while turning over some of the 

 shells of dead turtle which had been apparently arranged by 

 the natives who occasionally visit the place, that he was 

 surprised to find beneath them several of these pretty Terns 

 sitting on their egg without any nest. The egg is so similar 

 in colour to that of the Sooty Tern that the description of one 

 will answer for both, but it is considerably smaller in size, 

 the average measurement being one inch nine and a half lines 

 long by one inch three and a half lines broad. 



