17 
fields. The other species of the genus Rallina superciliaris (Hyton) 
is very much rarer and is represented by four or five specimens only 
in the Federated Malay States Museums. 
DROMAS ARDEOLA, PAYKULL. 
Dromas ardeola, Paykull; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxiv., 
p- 28 (1896). 
The Crab Plover does not appear to have been recorded from 
further east than the Andaman Islands or on the eastern shores of 
the Bay of Bengal. On 24th September, 1912, Mr. Seimund shot 
three specimens, none of them quite adult, out of a flock of six met 
with on the mud-flats near Pulau Pintu Gedong, Klang Straits, 
Selangor. 
HYDROCHELIDON LEUCOPTERA (MeEtIsn. & SCHINZ). 
Hydrochelidon leucoptera (Meisn. and Schinz); Saunders, Cat. 
Birds Brit. Mus., xxv., p. 6 (1896). 
The whiskered Tern was noted in considerable numbers in 
breeding plumage in Penang harbour in March, 1911, but specimens 
were not obtained. A large series of immature birds and birds in 
winter plumage were secured in the same place in October, 1911. 
The species seems to be not very common in Malayan waters. 
STERNA ANZSTHETA, Scop. 
Sterna anestheta, Scop.; Saunders, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxv., 
p- 101 (1896) ; Oates, Cat. Birds Eggs Brit. Mus., 1., p. 190 (1901). 
Two small rocks about 150 feet high, between the islands of Sri Buat 
and Tioman, off the coast of Pahang, on the eastern side of the Penin- 
sula, are frequented by myriads of this tern. We visited these rocks, 
which are known as Tokong Burong, on 15th June, 1912, and secured 
a considerable number of eggs which were much incubated, though 
no young birds were seen. The rocks are almost precipitous with 
flat tops and are covered with a wiry grass growing in isolated 
tussocks. The eggs are laid singly underneath or by the side of 
these tussocks and take a good deal of finding. 
Of the series of fifteen before me the ground colour varies from 
greenish white to pinky brown, and there is an equally wide range in 
the character of the mottling which varies from an almost evenly 
distributed speckling of dull pinkish brown to bold blotches of rich 
chocolate brown, either evenly distributed over the shell or congre- 
gated at the larger end. In all the specimens there are underlying 
markings of clouded pinky-buff which, as Oates remarks, are not very 
conspicuous. 
One egg, which was unfortunately smashed in descending the 
rock, was almost pure white without any markings. There were 
many thousands of the terns around the rock all in full breeding 
plumage with the steamers well developed, and intermixed with then. 
were a few Sterna melanauchen, of which, however, we did not find the 
eggs in this locality. 
Jan, 1913. 
