WHITE-SHAFTED TERNLET. 89 



Adult male in breeding-plumage. Back, wings, and tail silvery-grey ; crown of 

 head, hind-neck, and the entire under-surface of body silky-white, including the 

 axillaries and under wing-coverts ; a line from behind the eye which widens out on 

 the nape and forms a broad black collar ; an elongated black spot in front of the 

 eye ; outer web of first primary black. Total length 300 mm. ; culmen 38, wing 

 197, tail 120, tarsus 19. 



Adult female. Similar to the adult male. Iris dark brown ; feet dark brown ; 

 bill black ; extreme tip white. 



Adult in winter-plumage. Differs from the adult in breeding-plumage, in having 

 less extensive black on the nape and in front of the eye. 



Immature. The fully -fledged young of the year differs from the adult in having 

 the black on the head dark brown mottled with white, and the whole of the upper- 

 surface and wings variegated with dark brownish-grey. 



Nestling. Pale grey spotted all over above with black fairly thickly ; uniform 

 greyish -white below. 



Nest. A depression in the sand. 



Eggs. Clutch, two ; ground-colour buff, marked all over with irregular shaped 

 markings of chestnut, light grey and lavender ; axis 39-41 mm., diameter 29. 



Breeding-season . November . 



Distribution and forms. From the Andamans through the Moluccas as far north 

 as Foochow, China, and east to Fiji, and south to Northern Australia. Only two 

 subspecies at present recognised : G. s. sumatrana (Raffles) from Andamans to Celebes ; 

 and G. s. kempi (Mathews) from Northern Australia with a longer bill and shorter 

 wing ; Foochow birds may be separable and the Fiji birds may later bear the name 

 G. s. decorata (Hartlaub) but series are not yet available. 



Genus STERNULA. 



Sternula Boie, Isis, 1822, heft 5, col. 563, May. Type (by monotypy) : Sterna minuta 

 Linne = S. albifrons Vroeg. 



Least Terns, with comparatively long stout bills, short legs, long wings and 

 tails. The bill is longer than the head, but less than twice the length of the tarsus, 

 which is about equal to the middle toe and claw. The tail is long and forked, but 

 the streamers are generally much less than half the length of the wing. The diag- 

 nostic features are the small size, stout bill proportionally, and the webbing of the 

 feet. The toes are long, with the intervening webs notably incised in front, recalling 

 the incision of the Marsh-Terns, and differing appreciably from the Common Tern. 



Coloration grey above with black cap, white below. 



64. Sternula albifrons. WHITE-SHAFTED TERNLET. 



[Sterna albifrons Vroeg, (ex Pallas MS.) Cat. Rais. d'Ois. Adumb., p. 6, ante Sept. 22nd, 

 1764: Europe. Extra-limital.] 



Gould, Birds New Guinea, Vol. V., pi. 72 (pt. in.), May 1st, 1876. Mathews, Vol. II., pt. 4, 

 pi. Ill, Nov. 1st, 1912. 



Sternula placens Gould, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. IV., Vol. VIII., p. 192, Sept. 1st, 1871 : 



Torres Strait, Queensland. 



Sternula inconspicua Masters, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., Vol. L, p. 63, Feb. 1876 : Cape York, 



Queensland. 



Sterna sinensis tormenti Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 210, Jan. 31st, 1912 : Point 



Torment, North-west Australia. 



DISTRIBUTION. Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory, North-west 

 Australia. 



Adult male in breeding -plumage. General colour of the upper-surface grey, 

 including the mantle, back, scapulars, and wings ; the four outer primary-quills 



