320 



actively engaged in carrying long wire-like weeds (some of them 2 feet long) from different parts 

 of the jheel, and making huge floating nests on the surface of the water. 



" On the 7th July we again visited the place, taking a small canoe with us, which was 

 pushed through the rushes and weeds with the greatest difficulty ; and we were soon rewarded 

 with as many eggs as we could carry home. 



" Each nest contained one, two, or three eggs, though possibly four may be the proper 

 number, had we allowed the birds sufficient time to lay the full complement. 



" The circumference of some of the nests I measured ranged between 3^ and 4 feet, and 

 they were about 4 inches thick. They were composed entirely of aquatic plants, and so inter- 

 woven with the growing creepers that it was impossible to remove them without cutting at the 

 foundation of the structure." 



Eggs of this Tern in my collection from Hungary and Spain have the ground-colour greyish 

 buff, ochreous buff, or stone-buff with a greenish tinge, and are marked and blotched with 

 purplish grey underlying shell-markings and blackish brown surface-blotches. Most of the eggs 

 I possess are more profusely marked at the larger end ; and one has the dark markings almost 

 confined to that end of the egg. In size they vary from l-j§ by 1^ to Iff by 1-^y inch. 



The specimens figured are, on the first Plate, an adult bird in full breeding-dress and a young 

 bird in down, and on the second Plate an adult male in full winter dress and a young bird in 

 immature plumage, all being the specimens above described. 



In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens: — 



E Mus. H. E. Dresser. 



a,d,b,2. Barcelona, Spain, May 4th, 1866 {H. E. D.). b,<3,c,%. Seville, May 1st, 1870 {Colonel Irby). 

 d,6. Seville, June 10th, 1869 {H. Saunders). e,<5. Malta, May 23rd, 1865 (C. A. Wright). /, $ . 

 Guriew, Russia, May 22nd, 1861 {Sabandeff) . 



E Mas. Howard Saunders. 



a, tf . Coria del Rio, April 29th, 1868 {H. S.). b, ? . Near Seville, May 10th {H. S.). c,d, d,$. Coto de 

 Dofiana, June 10th (breeding). e,jun. Coto de DoQana, July {Forrester), f, ad. Albufera de Valencia, 

 July 26th {Martin), g, h,jun. Albufera and Catarroja, July 26th, 1873 {Martin). i, ad. Cashmere 

 lakes, breeding {Colonel Delme-Radcliffe). j, $ . Futtehgurh, India, July 7th. k, ? jun. "Thirty-five 

 days old," Futtehgurh, October 1st {A. Anderson). I, S • Hambantotta, Ceylon, July 1st, 1873 {W.Vincent 

 Legge). in, $ . Colombo, Ceylon, December 15th, 1869 {W. Vincent Legge). n, <S , o, 2 . Togoan Island. 

 p, ad. Celebes, all three winter {Dr. A. B. Meyer) . q, ad. Breeding-plumage, Lake Elpliinstone, North 

 Australia {Boiuen). r. Queensland {Gould), s. Queensland, winter plumage, t, ? ad. Egypt, April 

 {Captain Shelley), u. Lake Ngami, S. Africa {Anderssen). v. Lake Ngami, S. Africa {Chapman), 

 w, 6 . Transvaal, December 9th, 1873 {T. E. Buckley). x,pull. South France {Ray). 



E Mus. C. A. Wright. 

 a,s. Malta, May 22nd, 1874 (C. A. W.). 



