DISTRIBUTION OF BIRDS IN THE SOCIETY'S MUSEUM. 



59 



153. (?) Thalasseus cristatus, Stephen. — The large Sea- 

 Tern. May be St. Bergii, Licht. — Hume, " Stray Feathers," 

 volume 1, page 283 ; Layard, Annals Natural History, 1854, 

 volume 14, page 270; omitted from Kelaart's list, Prodromua 

 Faunae Zeylanica. 



Chiefly along the west and south coasts. Numerous at Colombo and 

 Galle, and frequenting all parts where there are isolated wells at 

 a Little distance from the shore; less so on the south-east, and not 

 so abundant along the north-east coast as the next species. 



154. Thalasseus medius, Horsf.— The Lesser Sea Tern. 

 Thalasseus Bengalensis, Lesson,— Layard, Annals Natural His- 

 tory, volume 14, page 270; omitted from Kelaart's list, Prodromus 

 Fauna; Zeylanica. 



Equally abundant on parts of all our coasts : Aripu, Colombo, Galle, 

 on the west; Hamhantc-ta, Batticaloa, and Trincomalee, on the 

 east; the Jaffna peninsula on the north. More numerous than 

 any other species of Tern, with perhaps the exception of Gelo- 

 chelidon anglica. 



Galle, 2.0th May, 1873, 



