86 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



Nest. Made of reeds and rushes, floating on marshes. 



Eggs. Clutch, three, rarely four ; varying from pale stone to buff -brown in. 

 ground -colour, boldly blotched with dark brown, with paler brown spots and grey 

 underlying markings ; axis 32-34 mm., diameter 24-25 mm. 



Breeding-season. May and June in northern hemisphere. 



Distribution and forms. Southern Palaearctic Region, wandering in winter to 

 Africa, India, Java, Celebes and Australia. Mathews in 1912 recorded that the 

 birds which bred in China had more powerful bills and longer wings, and therefore 

 admitted two subspecies : Chlidonias leucoptera leucoptera (Temminck) from Europe ; 

 and C. 1. grisea (Horsfield) for the Chinese race. Only three occurrences from North 

 Australia were then on record, but in 1917 thousands appeared in Western Australia ; 

 as recorded by Alexander (Emu, Vol. XVII., p. 95, Oct. 1917), who has given further 

 details of the plumages, stating that the females had white tails and a fully coloured 

 bird had a black bill. 



Genus STERNA. 



Sterna Linne, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., p. 137, Jon. let, 1758. Type (by tautonymy) : Sterna 



hirundo Linnd. 



Chelido Billberg, Synops, Faunae Scand., Vol. L, pt. n., p. 193, 1828. New name for Sterna 



Lin. (c/. Austral Av. Rec., Vol. II., pts. 2, 3, p. 42, Oct. 23rd, 1913). 



Thalasscea Kaup, Skizz. Entwick.-Gesch. Nat. Syst., p. 97, (pref. April) 1829. Type (by 



monotypy) : Sterna dougallii Montagu. 



Hydrocecropis Boie, Isis, 1844, heft 3, col. 178, March. New name for Sterna Auct. 



Medium-sized Terns with slender bills, short legs, long wings and very long 

 tails. The bill is longer than the head and twice the length of the tarsus, which is 

 shorter than the middle toe and claw. The tail is long and forked, the length of 

 the streamers more than half the length of the wing. Toes completely webbed, 

 the tarsus very short and regularly scutellate in front, reticulate behind, the hind- 

 toe small. 



Coloration : black cap, grey back and wings, and whitish below. 



61. Sterna striata. WHITE-FRONTED TERN. 



[Sterna striata Gmelin, Syst. Nat., Vol. I., pt. n., p. 609, April 20th, 1789 : New Zealand, 

 based on Ellis's drawing No. 57. Extra-limital.] 



Gould, Vol. VII., pi. 26 (pt. xxxvi.), Dec. 1st, 1848. Mathews, Vol. II., pt. 4, pi. 109, Nov. 

 1st, 1912. 



Sterna velox Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.), 1842, p. 139, Feb. 1843 : Baas Straits. 

 Not Biippell, Atlas Reise nord. Africa, p. 21, pi. 13, Cretzschmar [1826 = ] 1827. 

 Sterna melanorhyncha Gould, Birds Austr., pt. xxxvi. (Vol. VII., pi. 26), Dec. 1st, 1848 : 

 Tasmania. 



Not Siernula melanorhyncha Lesson, Descr. Mamm. et Ois. rec. decouv., p. 266, 1847. 

 . Sterna striata incerta Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 208, Jan. 31st, 1912 : Tasmania. 

 Sterna striata yorki Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. II., pt. 5, p. 86, Sept. 24th, 1914 : Cape 

 York, North Queensland. 



DISTRIBUTION. Queensland south to Tasmania. 



Adult male in breeding -plumage. Head and nape deep black, wings, scapulars, 

 back and tail very pale grey ; the outer web of the first primary blackish, paler 

 towards the tip, inner webs chiefly white, with a shade of grey near the shafts ; 

 secondaries for the most part white, with grey on the outer webs ; tail-feathers 

 white on the inner webs towards the base ; fore-head, lores, sides of the face, sides 

 of the neck, and the entire under-surface silky-white, including the under tail-coverts, 

 axillaries, and under wing-coverts. Bill black ; iris brown ; feet and legs brownish- 

 red. Total length 451 mm. ; culmen 40, wing 272, tail 185, tarsus 21. 



Adult female. Similar to the adult male. 



