STERNA. 321 



Length 10 ; tail 3-5 to 5'5, depth of fork 175 to 3-4 ; wing 7 ; 

 tarsus "65 ; bill from gape 1*7. 



Distribution. Cevlon, Burma, probably the east coast of India, 

 and throughout South-eastern Asia and its islands to Japan in one 

 direction, and Australia in another. 



Habits, $c. The habits of the three small Terns found in India are 

 similar. They are found on large rivers and tidal estuaries, on salt 

 lagoons, and sometimes on the open coast, feeding chiefly on fish. 

 They breed on sandbanks in rivers and on the coast, in March and 

 April in Pegu, and from June to August in Ceylon, and lay two or 

 three eggs, varying in colour from pale drab to brownish buff, 

 broadly spotted and streaked, and measuring about 1/24 by "94. 



151 0. Sterna miimta. The Little Tern. 



Sterna minuta, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 228 (1766); Name, Cat. 



no. 988 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 86; Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 116. 

 Sternula minuta, Blyth, Cat. p. 292 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 840 ; Hume 



Henders. Lah. to Yark. p. 303 ; Hume, N. $ E. p. 654 ; id. S. F. 



ii, p. 49. 

 Sterna gouldi, Hume, S. F. v, p. 326; C,'ipps, S. F. vii, p. 314; 



Hume, Cat, no. 988 quat. ; id. S. F. ix, p. 131 ; xi, p. 350. 

 Sternula gouldi, Sail, S. F. vii, p. 233. 



This closely resembles S. sinensis, but is smaller, with consider- 

 ably shorter outer rectrices ; the two outer primaries, as a rule, 

 with dark webs and sullied brownish shafts, the shaft of the second 

 very often much browner than that of the first ; the upper tail- 

 coverts and tail generallv tinged with grey ; bill shorter. 



Length 9 ; tail 3 to 3'7, depth of fork 1/5 ; wing 6'75 ; tarsus 

 65 ; bill from gape 1-5. 



Distribution. Europe, the greater part of Africa in winter, and 

 Western and Central Asia with Northern India, as far south as the 

 G-odiivari. Specimens have been obtained in Burma, and even in Java. 

 The form breeding in India was distinguished by Hume as 

 S. gouldi, chiefly because of its greyish rump and of the shafts of 

 the first primary being whiter than that of the second, but these 

 differences are not constant. 



Habits, fyc. Similar to the last. In Northern India this Tern 

 breeds on sandbanks in rivers from March to the beginning of 

 May, in the same localities as those selected by Sterna seena, 

 8. melanorj aster, Ehynchops albicollis, and Glareola lactea, all of 

 which lay earlier than S. minuta, or in similar places. 



1511. Sterna saundersi. The Slack-shafted Ternlet. 



Sternula minuta, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 840, pt. ; Hume, S. F. iv, 



p. 469; Sutler, S. F. v, p. 324. 

 Sterna saundersi, Hume, S. F. v, p. 325 ; id. Cat. no. 988 ter ; Vidal; 



8. F. ix, p. 95 ; Hume, ibid. p. 131 ; Sutler, ibid. p. 441 ; Leyye, 



Birds Ceyl. p. 1023 : Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 430 ; id. Jour. Bom. 



N. II. Soc. vi, p. 297 ; Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 120. 



TOL. IV. Y 



