PLATE XLVI. 



THALASSEUS BEXGALENSIS. 



INDIAN TERN. Genus: Thalasseus. 



CLOSELY allied to and resembling in its general mode of life the two preceding species, this 

 Tern is a frequenter of the warm latitudes of the northern parts of Australia and the islands 

 of the East Indian Archipelago. 



About the mangrove-banked sluggish waters of the tidal rivers and creeks debouching into the 

 Gulf of Carpentaria, and along the north-western coast of Australia, these Terns are seen in small 

 Hocks, generally haunting the sandbanks at the entrances to the sea. 



Like the preceding species, the present does not display any fear of man, and around the shores 

 of Port Darwin and Port Essington numbers of these birds may be observed at almost all seasons of the 

 year, standing on the sand flats or flying about fishing. 



The food consists principally of fish and the various mollusca and medusa? to be found on 

 the reefs. 



A change of the plumage about the head, similar to that which takes place in T. Cristatus 

 and T. Poliocercus, is also undergone by this species in summer, when the winter coating of white 

 gives place to a rich black ; there is no difference of plumage in the sexes. 



Crown of the head and occipital crest, black ; back and wings, a rich grey ; tail, dark grey ; all 

 the under surface, a light grey ; bill, bright yellow : feet, dark grey. 



Total length. 13^ inches: bill, 2| inches: wing, 111 inches; tail, 4| inches; tarsi, 1 inch. 



Habitats : The coasts of Northern and North-western Australia, 



FAMILY LARID^E. 



ALTHOUGH there seems to be much affinity between the present or Gull family and the Terns, 

 they are perfectly distinguishable, and easily separated into two families. The Gulls are in 

 general much stouter than the Terns : the bills much stronger, and in some crooked at the end, in 

 a degree equal to many birds of prey, and, indeed, the first of the family to be now described — the 

 Great Skua Gull — is of particularly rapacious habits, seldom obtaining its livelihood by its own honest 

 exertions, but, attacking the ordinary species and the Petrels, it forces them to yield up their booty; 

 the legs of the Gulls are also much stronger than with the Terns. Comprising numerous species, the 

 family has been divided into many genera in accordance with the variety of their structure, general 

 habits and nidification. In the latter respect, although the various species show differences, they are 

 thoroughly gregarious at this time, and prodigious numbers assemble at the breeding places, which in 

 some instances are on isolated rocks, and in others on the banks of tidal rivers or salt marshes near 

 the shore. 



