90 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



have a dark brown pattern on the outer web and adjoining the shaft on the inner 

 one, the inner portion of which is white ; the innermost primaries and secondaries 

 grey, the latter white on the inner webs and fringed with white at the tips ; upper 

 tail -co verts and tail ivory-white ; a line of feathers from the base of the bill to the 

 eye black, like the hinder part of the crown and nape ; fore-part of head and entire 

 under-surface of body silky -white, including the under wing-coverts and under tail- 

 coverts ; bill bellow, black at tip ; iris brown ; feet orange-yellow. Total length 

 240 mm. ; culmen 30, wing 176, tail 70, tarsus 18. 



Adult female. Similar to the adult male. 



Adult in winter-plumage. Distinguished from the summer- or breeding-plumage 

 by the encroachment of the white of the fore-part of the head on to the hinder crown, 

 leaving only the nape and sides of the crown black, and a shade of black in front of 

 the eye. 



Immature. A good series from Point Torment, North-west Australia, and 

 Melville Island are worthy of detailed description, as they seem to indicate that these 

 Ternlets take on the adult state as soon as they have obtained their full first-season's 

 plumage. Thus, a bird killed on February 28th has the head mostly white, as are 

 also the lores, while the tail is grey and short ; the primaries are apparently full- 

 grown and perfect, but they are short. Close examination reveals the fact that 

 though they are unworn, new primaries are commencing from the inside to replace 

 them. The bill is given as " black, the basal half of lower mandible olive-brown." 

 Another has more black feathers coming on the head, but still, though the new 

 adult primaries are more advanced, the perfect immature primaries are scarcely 

 worn. The bill is changing colour, " basal half olive-brown, tip black." The next 

 stage has the lores black and white, mostly black, the top of the head shows the new 

 black feathers to be in the majority ; the tail-feathers are new and white, the 

 streamers half grown ; the primaries are mostly adult, only the two outside immature 

 ones left but they are very little worn ; the bill is now " yellow and black," as in 

 full breeding-plumage. 



Nestling. Upper coloration sandy-grey obscurely spotted with grey-brown 

 rather thickly, the spots darker on the head, and simulating a linear arrangement ; 

 there appears to be an obsolete loral line and also an indistinct frontal darker line ; 

 the winglet is spotted at the base but unspotted for the major portion ; the under- 

 surface pure white ; the bill is short and yellow, the tip darker. 



Nest. A depression in the sand. 



Eggs. Clutch, two ; ground-colour stone, spotted all over, but more on the 

 larger end, with purplish -red and sparingly with lavender-coloured spots ; axis 

 33 mm., diameter 26. 



Breeding-season. December. (Byron Bay.) October. (Tweed River.) November. 

 (Victor Island.) 



Distribution and forms. Throughout southern Palaearctic Regions on coast lines 

 but exact range and forms undetermined. Hartert has gi ven the range as : " Breeds 

 in Europe from the shores of southern Sweden to the Mediterranean, along the coasts 

 of Northern Africa, in the Canaries and on Madeira, and in north-west Asia as far 

 as Turkestan. It winters in Africa and in Asia as far north (sic) as India, Burmah, 

 Malacca and Java. Replaced by allied forms in Syria, Egypt, the Malay Archipelago, 

 the China Seas and Japan, Australia, America, and perhaps parts of Africa." 

 Americans distinguish their Ternlets specifically, and we cannot deal with the western 

 forms here ; the Indian S. a. saundersi Hume may even comprise more than one 

 distinct subspecies. The Australian race was called sinensis, which, of course, was 

 given to the Chinese bird, so that in Australia there are two races, 8. a. placens 

 Gould, from East Australia, and S. a. tormenti Mathews from North-west Australia, 

 the latter larger and with a heavier and longer bill than the former, and also paler 

 upper coloration. 



