20 
RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 
Turnix melanotus, Gould. Small Black -spotted Turnix. 
Gould , Handbk. Bds. Austr ., Vol. ii., sp. 481, p. 182. 
*Of the three small species of Turnix found in Australia, two 
of them, T. velox and T. pyrrhothorax , give decided preference to 
the open grassy plains of the inland districts, while Turnix 
melanotus is essentially an inhabitant of the low marshy ground 
and damp scrubs contiguous to the eastern coast of Australia. 
Near Sydney the latter species is not uncommon in the neigh- 
bourhood of Band wick, Botany, and La Perouse, localities also 
frequented by the Least Swamp Quail, Excalfatoria australis , and 
both species, shot at Botany on the same day, have been recently 
presented to the Museum. 
The nidification of Turnix melanotus , similar to that of other 
members of the genus, is a scantily grass-lined hollow in the 
ground, sheltered by a convenient tuft of grass or low bush. The 
eggs are four in number for a sitting ; specimens obtained on 
Mr. Boyd’s plantation on the Herbert River, Queensland, on the 
13th of December, 1890, are oval in form, tapering somewhat 
sharply to the smaller end, the ground colour is of a greyish-white, 
and is almost obscured witli minute freckles of pale umber-brown, 
while sparingly distributed over the surface of the shell are 
conspicuous spots and blotches of dark slaty-grey, which in some 
places approach an inky-black hue. Length (A) 0*97 x 0*73 inch, 
(B) 0-98 x 0*73 inch. These eggs can easily be distinguished from 
those of T. velox , by being much darker and the surface of the 
shell bright and glossy. During the same month, eggs of 
Excalfatoria australis were procured in the same locality. The 
latter species, Mr. J. A. Boyd informs me, is very common on 
the Herbert River. 
Sterna media, Ilorsjield. Crested Tern. 
Sterna media , Horsfield, Trans. Linn. Soc., 1820, xiii., p. 198. 
Sterna bengalensis , Lesson, Traite d’Orn., p. 621 (1831); Gould, 
Handbk. Bds. Austr., Yol. ii., p. 327, sp. 603 (1865). 
Thalasseus torresii , Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc., (1842), p. 142 ; id. 
Bds. Austr., fol. Yol. vii. pi. 25. 
This species of Tern has a most extensive range of habitat. It 
is found frequenting the Northern and Eastern coast of Africa, 
the Red Sea, and the southern shores of Asia, the Indo-Malayan 
and Austro-Malayan Archipelago, and the Northern and Eastern 
coasts of Australia, 
Mr. H. Grensill Barnard, who has lately returned from a 
collecting tour in the islands contiguous to the coast of North- 
eastern Queensland, has kindly sent the following interesting 
* North, Eec. Austr. Mus., Yol. i., No. 9, October, 1891. 
