1022 
STERNA SINENSIS. 
article on the Stilt, p. 923, which, in the dry season, is connected with the northern shore of Kanthelai tank, 
numbers of nests were found in the first week in August, the majority being situated among gravel and shingle, 
and consisted of a little hollow scooped out and sometimes lined with a few pieces of twig, grass-stalk, or other 
material collected from the flood-wreck. The perfectly flat and extensive shores of the lew r ays, formed by 
the drying up of the salt-pans, are, however, better adapted to the habits of this species than gravelly places. 
1 here they stamp out a tiny very shallow hollow and lay their eggs, without any lining at all. In some cases 
these hollows are almost imperceptible, and the eggs repose on the flat, powdery, half sandy, half earthy ground. 
No two nests are nearer than 10 feet to one another, and the usual number of eggs is two. In some nests 
three were found, and in one six ; but the latter were the product of two birds, as some of the number 
had been rolled out to the side of the nest, showing that the nest had been taken possession of by another 
bird after the rightful owner had laid her eggs. The birds were seated or standing by their eggs, and always 
rose when I was at some distance from them, but afterwards displayed considerable courage, flying round and 
round close to me, and screaming and swooping down as their eggs were approached. These were divisible 
into several types, some being long ovals, nearly equal in size at both ends, some pointed ovals, others oval, 
stumpy at the small end and rounded at the opposite, and not a few were short, broad, very rounded eggs. 
The first mentioned are dealt with in the succeeding article, as they are presumed to belong to another species, 
many of which were at this breeding-ground. The eggs of the other types were stone-grey, yellowish buff, 
slightly brownish buff, and olivaceous grey in ground-colour, and were, for the most part, marked with small 
and rounded blots and blotches of dark sepia and rich brown of several shades, mixed with undei-lying blots of 
bluish inky and purplish grey, which are pretty evenly scattered over the whole egg ; others are entirely marked 
with reddish-brown specks and short dashes mixed with small specks of underlying pale colour ; and some are 
streaked and pencilled with straggling lines of olive-brown over blots of pale bluish grey. Various specimens 
measure— T26 by 0'96, 1-3 by 095, 1'2 by 093, 1'21 by 092, 123 by 096, 134 by 091, 1-2 by 1'0, and 
113 by 096 inch, the two latter being remarkably rounded eggs. 
When getting fledged, the young run fast and hide themselves among stones, to which their colour 
assimilates so nearly that it is difficult to see them. 
