STEENA SAUNDERSI. 1025 



cularly on its prey. It is fond of resting on sand banks at the base of creeks and lagoons in little troops of 

 a dozen or so ; and it may generally be seen thus assembled about 10 or 1 1 in the forenoon, reposing after its 

 morning's hunting. Its note is quite different from the Parrot-like pipe of the white-shafted bird, and it is 

 not so noisy. I have noticed it more about fresh water in the cool season than this latter; it is the common 

 Ternlet on the Pootoor lagoon and also on the Colombo Lake. 



Nidification. — As there were many examples of this species at the breeding-station of the Ternlets near 

 Harubantota, and as I shot them while flying in from the sea with food in their bills, there is every reason to 

 infer that some of the nests I found belonged to it. In a few there were eggs of a different type to that of 

 the majority of specimens I took ; they were rather larger, and marked with large blots or clouds of rich sepia 

 of several shades over lighter clouds of bluish grey, brownish grey, and purple-grey, the smaller end of the 

 shell having a few more reduced spots. In some the markings were slightly straggly, in others they were 

 rather regular. The ground-colour varied from pale greenish stone to brownish buff. They vary from T25 

 by 0-91 to 1-35 by 0"93 inch. 



Captain Butler describes the eggs he took at Kurrachee belonging to this species as pale drab with a 

 faint greenish tinge, or greyish stone-colour with primary streaks, blotches, and spots of deep brown, and 

 secondary (that is, the underlying) clouds of pale inky blue. The nests were, as in Ceylon, slight depressions 

 in the ground, the eggs in some cases being deposited in wheel-ruts and horse -footprints. 



