312 LARIDJE. 



Sterna sinensis, Gmel. The Eastern Ternlet*. 



Sternula minuta (Linn.\ Jerd. B '. Ind. ii, p. 840; Hume, Rough 

 Draft N. $ E. no. 988. 



The Ternlet seems to be pretty generally distributed throughout 

 all the larger rivers of the Empire. According to my experience it 

 rarely extends quite to the sea-coast or fishes in pure sea-water. 

 In the cold season it is more plentiful about the estuaries and the 

 lower portions of river-courses, but for breeding-purposes ifc goes 

 higher up inland. 



in India this species breeds from the middle of March to the 

 beginning of May, according to locality, those in the south begin- 

 ning earlier and those in the north later ; but whether they are 

 early or late they always lay later than the other species, Sterna 

 seena and S. melanogastra, Ithynchops albicollis and Glareola lactea, 

 all of which commonly breed on identically the same sandbanks. 

 It is almost needless to say that the eggs, four in number, are laid 

 in a slight depression in the bare sand on some entirely water- 

 surrounded bank in a considerable-sized river. Personally I have 

 taken but few eggs, comparatively speaking, of this Ternlet. Such 

 few notes as I have recorded I quote : 



" Etawah, March I2th. I have scarcely ever noticed this bird 

 here in the cold weather, but to-day I have seen a good many near 



on the 10th June to the island of Allah, about 40 miles E. of Bushire, where 

 the eggs you got last year were taken from. At low tide it is one island, but 

 at high tide becomes two, from low ground in the centre becoming submerged. 

 Sterna albigena was breeding on one, and Sterna ancestheta on the other. The 

 former (8. albigena} lays in the open on the bare ground, no nest, but in some 

 instances a few pieces of twigs were observable. Eggs in number one or two, 

 not more. One egg was peculiar, being almost white without any spots. The 

 bird was shot off' the nest, so there could be no mistake." 



The eggs of this species, like those of most of the Terns, vary a good deal in 

 size, shape, and colour. Typically they are moderately broad ovals, somewhat 

 pointed towards the small end, but some specimens are quite of the hen-shaped 

 type, others are broader and slightly pyriform, while I have three or four very 

 elongated ovals markedly pointed towards the small end. Typically the 

 ground-colour is a moderately pale brownish-yellow stone-colour, but occa- 

 sionally this brightens to a warm cafe-au-lait ; in many it is only creamy, and 

 rarely it is almost pure white. Typically, again, the markings are neither very 

 large nor very dense. Moderate-sized blotches, specks, and spots of a brown, 

 varying from deep umber-brown, almost black, through a variety of shades to 

 almost sepia-brown. In some eggs all these primary markings are very small. 

 One egg in twenty exhibits a few good-sized blotches. Besides these primary 

 markings, all the eggs exhibit more or less numerous grey or pale inky-purple 

 subsurface-looking streaks, clouds, and spots. In one or two eggs the primary 

 markings are entirely wanting, and they exhibit nothing but these secondary 

 ones. One egg we got had the ground white and was absolutely devoid of all 

 markings. Variations like this occur in most species ; even in highly coloured 

 eggs like those of (Edicnemus scolopax similar white varieties occur. The 

 texture of the shell is fine and compact, but it is entirely devoid of gloss. 



The eggs vary from T48 to T71 in length, and from 1'07 to 1'21 in breadth. 



* Owing to the difficulty of assigning the notes on the breeding of the Tern- 

 let to the various races into which Mr. Hume divides the Indian birds, I have 

 been obliged to include them all under one name. ED. 



