BASS STRAITS TERN 
6i 
BASS STRAITS TERN 
Thalasseus bergii poliocercus 
This is the commonest Tern we have. If you happen 
to be at Torquay in the autumn, and see a squad of 
what coast residents call " sea-swallows " squabbling 
over the tit-bits as the barracoutta are being cleaned 
after a heavy catch, or in more passive mood camped 
with snowy Seagulls on a sandspit, or yet again, in 
Geelong, perched in winter along the " wires " at 
the baths, you may be tolerably sure they are Bass 
Straits Terns Bearing, like all Terns, a superficial 
resemblance to the Gulls, they may easily be dis- 
tinguished by the darker back and the black patch 
on the head, and in flight their more pointed wings 
work with a jerky mechanical motion which contrasts 
with the slower and rounded flight of the Gull. 
From the other Terns the Bass Straits Tern is easily 
told by its bright yellow bill. 
It is quite fascinating to watch one of these Terns 
fishing. With down-pointed bill he hovers over the 
stretch of bay he is working, eyes always sharply on 
the lookout for a fish. There ! he has seen one. 
Wings shut close to the sides, head first, the body 
shoots down like a weighted grey arrow, and as it 
enters the water a little cloud of spray goes up. 
Presently out comes our friend with a fish, rarely 
visible, but certainly there, and even as he gulps it 
he is hawking again for fresh booty. 
