286 



through the Malay archipelago to North Australia. According to Malherbe {I. c.) it is found 

 throughout the Greek archipelago and in the Mediterranean, and one was killed near Syracuse ; 

 and Schlegel states that there is a specimen in breeding-plumage from Sicily in the Leyden 

 Museum. Dr. Kriiper, however, does not include it in his list of the birds of Greece; and it 

 appears doubtful if it really has been obtained there. It certainly is found on the northern 

 coasts of Africa. Mr. Howard Saunders informs me that he received an egg taken by one of the 

 telegraph-constructors on the island of Benghazi, in the Gulf of Tunis ; and Colonel Irby writes 

 (Orn. Str. Gibr. p. 209) : — " This Tern occurs in the Straits in spring. I obtained two, both 

 males, shot near Tarifa, on the 20th April 1874, and have seen others from Tangier; most pro- 

 bably they breed somewhere on the coast." And he adds the following note from M. Favier, 

 viz. : — " This species is one of the least common of the Terns near Tangier, and is only occa- 

 sionally met with. Further south, in the vicinity of Larache, it is more frequently seen ; and I 

 found it there during September, October, and November, in company with Sterna cantiaca, 

 which species it resembles in habits." Loche states that it is of accidental occurrence on the 

 coast of Algeria. On the east side of the Mediterranean it is stated by Canon Tristram (Ibis, 

 1859, p. 38) to occur in Caiffa Bay, Palestine, but he did not obtain it; and in North-east Africa 

 it is tolerably common. I received one from near Alexandria ; and Von Heuglin speaks of it as 

 being but a straggler to the lagoons of the Delta and the Mediterranean coast of Egypt ; but, he 

 adds, " it is a resident all along the Red Sea, except in the northern portions. It is scai'cely to 

 be called a resident on the Arabian coast, but is common on Dahlak and on the Gulf of Aden." 

 It certainly breeds on the coast of Egypt ; for Mr. Stafford Allen sent me three eggs taken there 

 by himself with a specimen of the bird. According to Dr. Finsch it occurs along the east coast 

 of Africa, and it has been recorded from Zanzibar. Mr. Edward Newton, on his second visit to 

 Madagascar (Ibis, 1863, p. 460), found it very common at Tamatave, near the mouth of the 

 Hivondrona river, at the beginning of September 1862. Two years later he announced it as a 

 bird of Rodriguez (Ibis, 1865, p. 153), and subsequently met with it in the Seychelles (Ibis, 

 1867, p. 359). 



In Asia it is numerous off the coasts of India, and ranges down to North Australia. 

 Dr. Jerdon speaks of it as being more numerous than Sterna bergii, especially about the back- 

 waters of Madras and the Malabar coast ; and Mr. A. O. Hume says (Stray Feathers, i. p. 284) that 

 " it is excessively abundant in the Kurrachee harbour and in all suitable bays and backwaters, 

 from the mouths of the Indus, at any rate to Gwader on the Mekran coast ; while the Sterna 

 bergii is met with only singly, the present species and Sterna cantiaca herd together in vast 

 flocks ; and though these too may be met with singly, whilst feeding, morning and evening, at 

 midday they are always seen congregating in such masses that a single shot (and they have 

 apparently no fear of men or guns) secures a dozen specimens." In his notes on the avifauna of 

 the Laccadives, Mr. Hume also remarks that he saw a large flock at Pere-Mull-Par, and a few 

 individuals at Cherbaniani, but did not meet it elsewhere ; and he further states (Stray Feathers, 

 ii. p. 318) that he received three specimens from Mr. Davison, who procured them on the north 

 coast of Camorta. Mr. Holdsworth says that a Tern, apparently this species, is very common in 

 Ceylon. Blyth records it from the Nicobars ; there are examples in the Leyden Museum from 

 Ceylon, Sumitra, Java, Macassar, and Northern Celebes ; and Mr. Gould received it from Port 



