722 LARID^E. 



Thalasseus cristatus, Jerd., B. Ind. ii. p. 842 ; Blyth, B. Burm. p. 163. 

 Thalasseus Bergii, David, et Oust. Ois Chifte, p. 523. The LARGE CRESTED 

 SEA TERN. 



Forehead, lores, sides of the face, neck in front and behind, chin, throat, 

 breast, and all the lower parts white ; crown of the head, including the eye, 

 crest and nape glossy black ; back, wings and tail dusky grey ; inner webs of 

 primaries next the shaft dark brown, the margins white ; inner primaries uni- 

 colorous silvery or hoary grey, margined with white ; secondaries white on 

 their inner webs and tips. Bill pale yellow ; irides dark brown ; legs and 

 feet black. 



Length. iJ'O to 18-5 inches ; wing 14-0 to I4 f 6; bill at front 2-6 to 2'8. 



, Hal. Coasts of India generally to the Persian Gulf. Occurs commonly in 

 the Kurrachee harbour, along the Mekran Coast and the Persian Gulf, Burmah 

 and Ceylon. Breeds in the Gulf of Oman, on the Island of Astola, nearly 

 opposite Jask, whence thousands of eggs have been collected during 

 May and June. The eggs are typically broad ovals, strongly pointed towards 

 the small end, but considerably elongated. Varieties are not uncommon. The 

 ground colour varies from white, greenish and pinkish white to pale buff, pale 

 yellowish, and again pale pinkish stone colour to the richest and warmest 

 salmon pink ; the markings are of two colours, an intensely deep burnt sienna 

 brown, often quite black in its intensity, and a pale inky purple, which has an 

 appearance of lying beneath the surface of the shell. In some eggs the inky 

 purple markings are almost entirely wanting, in others more numerous and 

 extensive than the dark ones. In others these dark markings are compara- 

 tively thinly sprinkled or dense ; again there are some with huge blotches and 

 spots about the larger end. The eggs vary from 2-3 inches to 271 in length 

 and 1*63 to 178 in breadth; the average of 2 dozens was 2*45 X 171. 



1430. Sterna cantiaca (Gm.), Farr., Br. B. 2nd Ed. iii. fig. p. 497 J 

 Gould, B. Eur. pi. 4*5 5 Str. F. i. p. 285 ; Murray, Hdbk., Zool., Sfc. t Sind, 

 p. 2480; id. t Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 321. The BLACK-HEADED TERN. 



Summer Plumage. Forehead, crown, back of the neck and nape, occipital 

 crest and ear coverts glossy black; sides of the face, chin, throat, neck in front 

 and behind, breast and entire lower parts white, tinged with rosy; mantle and 

 wings pale silvery grey ; the first primary is slightly darker than the rest, with 

 more than half of the inner webs near the shaft white ; the next two or three 

 paler, also the succeeding ones, till they shade away into the colour of the 

 wing coverts ; their inner webs greyish white or white ; under wing coverts 

 white ; tail forked, white, the external feathers on each side slightly greyish on 

 their outer webs ; upper tail coverts white. 



In winter plumage the whole of the head is white or mottled with white and 

 black, and there is a crescentic narrow black spot in front of the eye ; mantle 



