PLATE 



XLII. 



GENUS STERN U LA (Bote). 



"YTARIOUS parts of the Australian coast are inhabited by these fairy-like little birds, whose delicate 

 colouring and elegant forms, as they hover about the low sandy islets, convey an impression of 

 beauty not easily forgotten by the traveller. 



STERXULA NEREIS (Gould. 



LITTLE TERN. Genus : Sternula. 



A LTHOUGH not so beautiful and fairy-like a creature as G. Candida, this is a very delicately- 

 coloured and graceful little Tern, and congregates in prodigious numbers at the breeding grounds, 

 the principal of which are on Garden and Rottnest Islands, off the coast of Western Australia. 



In its habits and general economy this species resembles exactly the Little Tern of Europe, 

 but far surpasses it in delicacy of plumage. 



Like the Sooty Tern, this species makes no attempt at forming a nest, a slight depression 

 only being formed in the sand or loose coral, in which two eggs are deposited. These are of a dull 

 creamy white, occasionally blotched at the larger end with markings of dark brown ; they are one inch 

 and three-eighths long by seven-eighths broad. 



Like the other ocean - haunting Tern, the food consists of the various mollusca, medusa? and 

 small fishes ; the latter are captured with great ease, the bird plunging down into the water from a great 

 height and striking its prey with an unerring aim. 



The sexes have no apparent outward difference. 



Crown of the head, black, with a pale bluish mark in the centre ; back of the neck and mark 

 around the eye, black ; forehead, greyish white ; back and wings, a delicate silver grey ; sides of the 

 neck and body beneath the wings, white, deepening into gre}~ on the abdomen ; bill and feet, a light 

 yellow. 



Total length, 10^ inches; bill, If inch; wing, 7^ inches; tail, 4^ inches; tarsi, 9 /io m °h- 



Habitats : From the low sandy islands in Bass's Straits and along the Great Australian 

 Bight to the coast of Western Australia ; the species is also met with at the mouths of the tidal 

 rivers of the Northern Territorv of South Australia. 



