STERNA. 305 



of those of S. seena, and though slightly longer than the longest 

 egg of that species that I have ever seen (and I have seen some 

 hundreds), it is still not quite so broad as one or two of those that 

 I possess ; and so I do not think there is any mistake about it. 



Colonel Butler thus writes concerning the eggs of this Tern that 

 he received from the Persian Gulf: " On the 3rd April, 1878, 

 Mr. Huskisson, Telegraph Department, at my request kindly sent 

 a boat to the island of Warba, in the Kore Abdulla at the head of 

 the Persian Gulf, and procured a fine series of the eggs of this 

 species. 



" There were two species of Terns breeding in separate colonies 

 on different parts of the island, viz. Sterna caspia and the present 

 species. In each case the nests, which were very abundant, were 

 built about a foot apart and consisted of a small mound of sand 

 scraped together by the birds, from 3 to 5 inches high, with small 

 twigs and sticks laid on the top for the eggs to rest upon. Most 

 of the nests contained three eggs, all more or less incubated. Skins 

 of both species (S. caspia and S. awjlica) were forwarded to me 

 with the eggs for identification ; and as there were no other birds 

 on the island at the time, except a few Common Herons (A. cinerea) 

 that had also just commenced breeding, I think there can be no 

 doubt of their identity.' 7 



The eggs of this species do not vary much in size or . shape. 

 They are all moderately broad ovals and not unfrequently slightly 

 pointed towards the small end. 



The shell is extremely fine, hard and compact, but exhibits no 

 gloss ; the ground-colour varies from a greyish white through pale 

 greenish, yellowish, and brownish stone-colour to a pretty decided 

 brown ; the markings are of two colours one of more or less dark 

 sepia-brown, becoming olivaceous where the spots are not dark, 

 but in some spots becoming almost entirely black ; the other a pale 

 washed-out, subsurface-looking, inky-purple or grey-brown spots 

 and clouds. 



The character of the markings varies a good deal; in some they 

 are mostly small and pretty thickly and uniformly distributed over 

 the whole egg, in others they are large, thinly set, and in many 

 cases chiefly distributed over the large end. In some eggs the 

 secondary markings are very numerous and conspicuous ; in others 

 they are few in number and scarcely noticeable till the egg is looked 

 at closely. 



They vary from 1-83 to 2-2 in length, and from 1-35 to 1-57 in 

 breadth. 



Sterna hybrida (Pall.). The Whiskered Tern. 



Hydrochelidon indica (Steph.), Jerd. B. 2nd. ii, p. 837 ; Hume, Rouqh 

 "Draft N. $ E. no. 984. 



The "Whiskered Tern breeds not uncommonly in the North- 

 West Provinces, Oudh, and parts of the Punjab, in large lakes and 



TOL. III. 20 



