278 BRITISH BIRDS. 



of India, and breeds on the shores of Ceylon and the Andaman Islands. It 

 has been obtained in Burma , and eastwards its breeding-range extends to 

 the Malay archipelago, Western and North-eastern Australia, and New 

 Caledonia. 



In New Zealand the Roseate Tern is represented by a somewhat nearly 

 allied species, Sterna frontalis, which is a larger bird and has a white 

 frontal band.' 



It is not often that the Roseate Tern approaches near enough to the 

 observer for its black bill to be distinguishable, but it may generally be 

 recognized by its short wings and long tail. Very little is known of its 

 habits, but it is said to be almost exclusively a sea-coast bird. Naumann 

 says that its call-note (krr-ee) resembles that of the Common Tern much 

 more than it does that of the Arctic Tern. Of its alarm-note nothing 

 appears to be recorded beyond the statement of Capt. Legge that it is 

 " a monosyllabic and not unmusical piping note." It feeds upon fish, 

 which it catches in the same way as its allies, sometimes swooping grace- 

 fully down upon its prey, at others dropping upon them like a falling 

 stone. 



Like its congeners, it makes no nest, but lays its eggs in a slight depres- 

 sion in the sand, sometimes placing a few roots or bits of dead grass round 

 them. 



The eggs of the Roseate Tern are two or three in number, and are 

 similar in colour to those of the Common Tern. They vary in length from 

 1'75 to 1'55 inch, and in breadth from 1*25 to 1*1 inch. It is impossible 

 to give any characters by which the eggs of this species can be distinguished 

 from those of the Common and Arctic Terns. 



There are many large colonies of the Roseate Tern on various islands 

 off the Atlantic coasts of the United States. One of the most important 

 of these is on Faulkner's Island, in Long- Island Sound, not many miles 

 from New York. Brewer (Water-Birds of N. Amer. ii. p. 306) gives some 

 very interesting notes of the habits of the birds at this locality. They 

 make their first appearance about the middle of May, and begin to lay on 

 the 1st of June. Some make only a slight hollow in the sand, others 

 deposit their eggs on the stones, whilst a few collect a little dry grass 

 and seaweed. Four eggs are occasionally found in the nest; but where 

 that is the case one differs from the others, and is probably laid by a 

 second female. The male feeds its mate whilst she is sitting. During 

 June a hundred eggs or more are taken each day, but only on the outskirts 

 of the colony. The young are able to fly by the 20th of August, and when 

 fish, which appears to be their sole food, is plentiful they remain till the 1st 

 of October. 



The Roseate Tern is about the size of a Common Tern, but has a shorter 

 wing ; the fork of the tail is generally much deeper (varying from 3 to 



