39 
Sternula sinensis, Gmelin. (S, placens, Gould.) Chinese Tern, 
White-shaftecl Ternlet, &c. 
This bird was found breeding by Messrs. Grime & Yardley, 
during a visit to the Tweed River Heads on the 7th October, 
1889. The eggs two in number for a sitting were laid in a slight 
depression in the sand, all the eggs taken at that time being 
in an advanced stage of incubation ; in form they vary from true 
ovals to swollen ovals, terminating somewhat abruptly at one 
end, some of them being of a stone-grey ground colour, others a 
light coffee-brown, with rounded spots and irregular shaped 
penumbral blotches of umber-brown and dark slaty-grey, the 
latter colour in some instances predominating and appearing as if 
beneath the surface of the shell. Four specimens measure as 
follows: — (A) 1*28 x 0*95 inch ; (B) 1-27 x 0*94 inch ; (C)lT8x 
0’95inch; (D) P25 x O^inch. Skins of the parent birds were 
obtained and forwarded with the eggs for identification.* Plate i., 
fig. 1. 
* P.L.S., N.S.W., 2nd Ser., Vol. iv,. Dec., 1889. 
