1032 STERNA MEDIA. 



resident in Lower Egypt ; Mr. Stafford Allen has found it at Alexandria in June ; and Mr. Dresser has eggs 

 taken by this gentleman on the coasts of the Red Sea. It extends southwards to Zanzibar, and has also been 

 procured in the Comoro Islands, at Mayotte, and in Madagascar. 



Returning now to the Mediterranean, we find it occurring along the south coast, breeding near Tunis, 

 and straggling as far west as Gibraltar, where Col. Irby says it occurs in spring. Near Tangier, Favier states 

 that it is occasionally met with ; but further south, near Larache, it is more common during the months of 

 September, October, and November. At the eastern end of the Mediterranean it occurs in the Greek archi- 

 pelago ; and Canon Tristram records it from Caiffa Bay, on the shores of Palestine. 



In conclusion, to trace out its distribution beyond Java, I find that it has been procured in Celebes, but 

 is doubtfully assigned to Java by Salvadori. Still further to the south, it is found on the north coast of 

 Australia, where Gould records it as abundant in the harbour of Port Essington and on the adjacent islands. 

 Mr. Ramsay further records it from Port Darwin, Cape York, and the Gulf of Carpentaria. It is noteworthy 

 that it is not found on the China coasts. 



Habits. — This elegant Tern, like the last species, frequents bays, harbours, and the open coast, wandering 

 in fine weather far out to sea ; it is also found on salt lagoons, estuaries, and freshwater lakes in the vicinity 

 of the sea, in which latter it feeds abundantly on small fish, pouncing on them with unerring aim, and very 

 rarely rising from the water without a fish in its bill. Its pi'ey is always seized across the body, and then 

 tossed head foremost into the mouth as it rises again ; and so active is it on the wing, that I have frequently 

 seen it drop a fish while adjusting it in its bill and easily catch it again before it reached the water. It will 

 often descend like an arrow, and then, suddenly checking its progress just above the water, it will spread out 

 its wings and "delve up" the fish which has happened to be close to the surface. It is a pretty sight to see 

 several hundred of these Terns hovering over a crowd of fisb,Jiemmed in in a large sein-net, plunging rapidly on 

 their imprisoned prey, and rising each time with a fish in their bills. Their favourite food on the east coast is 

 the sardine (Sardinella neohowii) , on which it will feed till its entire stomach and throat are crammed. When 

 pouncing on a shoal of these fish it entirely immerses itself in the water, shaking the wet from its plumage 

 with a flutter of its wings as it rises again, immediately plunging anew. Von Heuglin states that it dives 

 from the surface of the water ; but during my eight years' acquaintance with it I never saw it once alight on 

 the surface of the water; and the same has been my experience of the last species. It rests for the most 

 part while digesting its food upon rocks, and very seldom is seen upon sand ; but I have occasionally seen 

 one perched on the telegraph-wire crossing the Colombo Lake. It is one of the noisiest of Terns, perpetually 

 giving out its harsh note while fishing ; and when a large flock are heard in the distance the sound produced 

 is something like the creaking of a gate. Their ordinary progress on the wing is very rapid, and they make 

 good headway against a storm of wind and rain, frequently shaking off the wet from their backs by a tremulous 

 motion of the body. 



Nidification. — As yet this species has not been found nesting in Ceylon or in India ; and the nearest 

 breeding-place I am acquainted with is that on the island of Arabi, in the Persian Gulf, where Captain E. A. 

 Butler found it nesting in July 1878. In the Dahlak archipelago, in the Red Sea, Von Heuglin found them 

 nidificating from June until August. There they prefer, he says, low sandy places, where a scanty vegetation, 

 consisting of soda-plants, is growing; and there numerous nests are placed close together, consisting merely 

 of a depression in the sand. The eggs are usually two in number, and the birds incubate chiefly in the cool 

 of the evening and during the night. The birds defend their nests with great courage, confronting any intruder 

 with loud cries and blows of their pinions. 



Eggs of this species from the Persian Gulf vary in ground-colour from warm reddish or pale salmon-red 

 to stone-white, between which extremes there are many tints of buff. They vary much in the character of 

 their markings, but not in the tints of the same. Some have huge clouds of blackish sepia, softened at the 

 edges into a paler tint, and occasionally running into bluish grey, which underlies the dark colour in large 

 blotches or clouds. Other eggs are similarly marked with smaller blotches, and some are sparingly covered 

 throughout with small spots of deep red-brown. Dimensions of different specimens are 2-11 by 1'41, 192 

 by 1-34, and 21 by 1-38 inches. 



