HYDBOOHELIDON. 



3&3 



from two to three eggs on the bare grouncl>- usually on the headlarids. 

 and low promontories of the coast. A setof three taken by the late 

 Mr. S.White of the Eeed-beds, South Australia, are of a light stone 

 colour, spotted and blotched all over with, irregular shaped 

 markings of umber and, blaekish-brown,, some of which appear as 

 if beneath the surface of the shell, particularly in one specimen 

 (A), where they become confluent towards the larger end. 

 Length (A) 2-61 x 1-68 inches ; (B) 2-62 x 1-75 inches ; (C) 241 

 X 1'73 inches. 



Two eggs taken on King Island, in Bass's Straits, in If ovember 

 1878, are of a stone colour thickly covered with longitudinal 

 markings of blackish-brown, others with bluish-black markings 

 appearing as if beneath the surface of the shell. Length (A) 2*47 

 xl-68 inches; (B) 2-35 x 165 inches. 



Two eggs in the Macleayan Museum Collection, taken on 

 Bountiful Island, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, give the following 

 measurements: — length (A) 2'56 x 1-7 inches; (B) 2-63 x 1'75 

 inches. 



The breeding season commences in September and continues 

 throughout December. 



Kah. Gulf of Carpentaria, Cape York, Rockingham Bay, Port 

 Denison, Wide Bay District, Richmond and Clarence Rivers 

 Districts, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, 

 Tasmania. (Rmmay.') 



Genus HYDROCHELIDON, Boie. 



HYDROCHELIDON HYBRIDA, Pallas. 



(H. Jkiiviatilis, Gould.) 

 Marsh-Tern. 

 Gould, Handbk. Bds. Aust., Vol. ii., sp. 610, p. 406. 



This Tern is widely dispersed over the Australian Continent, 

 and is found frequenting the inland rivers and lagoons, it constructs 

 a nest of sedges and other aquatic herbage, and attaches it to weeds 

 w 



