STEENA. 301 



but rather larger. They burrow about 1 to 1| feet under shrubs 

 or tufts of grass. Sometimes they lay on the ground under shrubs 

 without burrowing, but never in an exposed situation. The eggs 

 are always carefully concealed and consequently difficult to find. 

 The eggs I found were all in a patch of grass and shrubs about 80 

 yards long, growing thickly together : no nest." 



In shape the eggs seem to be normally very much that of a hen's 

 egg, though somewhat more pointed and elongated examples occur. 

 The ground-colour appears to vary from nearly pure white to a 

 rich pinky stone-colour. The primary markings, often small, 

 never apparently very large, and never very thickly set, are a rich 

 reddish or burnt-sienna brown, becoming black in some spots ; 

 besides these, chiefly towards the larger end of the egg, a certain 

 number of pale purplish-grey specks and spots are observable, 

 occasionally they are pretty densely set about the large end, but 

 in many eggs they are very sparse and small. The shell, as usual 

 in these Terns, is very fine and close, but entirely devoid of gloss. 



The eggs vary from 1-61 to 1-88 in length, and from 1-16 to 1'29 

 in breadth. 



Sterna dougalli, Mont. The llostate Tern. 

 Sterna dougalli, Mont., Hume, Cat. no. 985 bis. 



Of the breeding of this Tern within Indian limits, Mr. H. Parker 

 records the following very full note from Ceylon : "June (Adam's 

 Bridye). On a small low bank there was a colony of some 200 pairs 

 of this beautiful Tern, all breeding ! The birds were extremely tame, 

 settling on the nests when I was only 30 yards distant. At short 

 intervals the whole flock rose in a cloud, screaming loudly, and 

 after flying about halfway towards me returned to the eggs. 

 Many, however, came on and made persistent swoops within two 

 or three feet of my head, some of- them almost alighting on it, 

 uttering a loud scream at the time, with occasional hoarse notes. 

 A bird noosed on the nest proved to be a male. Some twenty 

 pairs of S. sinensis were breeding in this colony ; as a rule, their 

 nests were not mixed up with the others and were much more 

 scattered. Some nests of /S. bergii were in the midst of those of 

 the Roseate Tern. 



" The nests were from a foot to six feet or a little more apart, 

 extending in a broad semicircle along the highest ridge of the 

 sand, which was in no part more than two feet above the water- 

 mark, and generally not more than six inches above it. At high 

 tide some of the nests were evidently surrounded by water. All 

 were small hollows scratched in the sand, from 4 to 6 inches wide, 

 and from | to 1| inch deep ; some few contained a partial lining 

 of shells, and in one instance a ridge of them was raised round the 

 nest. The sand taken out of the cavity was usually deposited in a 

 small mound round the nest. 



" The number of eggs laid was either one or two two in the 

 greater number of nests. Their ordinary shape is a regular oval, 



