3092 Tue ZooLocist—J ung, 1872. 
On sighting the white tern we left our horses to graze on the soft 
grass that fringed a rippling creek, and watched its movements 
with great interest; the orange-billed S. antarctica, vociferous and 
bold, flew screaming, with rapid darts, close enough to be reached 
with a riding-rod, marking their irritation at our intrusion by 
swooping close to our faces, sometimes ejecting a whitish fluid on 
us; the stranger, less confident, kept rather aloof, with a different 
style of flight to that of its congeners, less rapid, but not to our 
thinking did this arise from any lack of power; the wings appeared 
more bent, the stroke more deliberate. As we watched its devious 
course up and down the stream, its pure white plumage was easily 
followed; sometimes it skimmed over the surface of the swiftly 
flowing river, or hung hovering for a few moments a few feet 
above, now and then rising to a considerable height, often to an 
elevation only reached by a few of its busy companions. Several 
times it was observed to settle on the shingle, soon rising again, 
wheeling about with renewed activity. As the tern’s breeding 
season, in this country, may be considered at its height at this 
time, we should be inclined to think that the stranger was nesting 
here. 
The entire plumage was white, upper, lower surface, and head 
also; the bill appeared to be light-coloured. Our observations 
were made chiefly during its rapid movements, so that of the bill, 
tarsi and feet, we cannot pretend to give a reliable description. 
Great Shag, Cormorant, Phalacrocorax (Graculus) carbo, Linn. 
—This large species of our native Pelicanide must enjoy a most 
extensive range, as there appears to be not much doubt of its 
identity with the European cormorant, which is met with in the 
highest latitudes of the northern hemisphere ; it would seem that it 
was formerly known sometimes as the sea-raven or crow, from its 
rapacity. It is worth recalling, that our eldest poet, that great 
student of Nature, mentions these birds together in two consecutive 
lines: 
‘ 
“ The hote corméraunt, full of glotonie 
The ravin wise, the crowe with voice of care.” 
This fine-looking bird, one of the most industrious of fishers, 
appears to be generally distributed throughout the country: unlike 
G. punctatus, G. brevirostris, and others, it is of rather solitary 
habits, whereas those species delight in the association of numbers, 
