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almost touching the water, it would ever and anon poise itself in the air for a few seconds, as if to 
take steady aim, and then drop upon its finny prey — a small kind of Qalaxias. Immediately on 
capturing this it would sweep upwards so as to have some xfiay in the air as the little fish fell from 
its beak and had to be caught again in the right position for swallowing. Up and down the open 
reach these birds kept up this untiring flight for hours together, their lively grey and white plumage 
shown oif to the best advantage against the dark banks and deep waters of the Waikato. 
On one occasion, however, when travelling in the Lower Waikato, I observed a very considerable 
flock in a meadow quite close to the railway-line, where several ploughs were at work. I have also 
met with smaller flocks at Onehunga, Maketu, Hastings North, and at the mouths of the Eangitikei 
and Wanganui rivers. 
Mr. Kirk writes that the local name of this bird, in the neighbourhood of Cape Kidnappers, is 
the “ Plough-bird ” or “ Plough-boy,” given on account of the persistent manner in which it follows 
the farmer’s plough for the purpose of picking up the grubs and worms that are exposed in this 
operation. 
On the habits of this species far inland. Captain Mair has sent me the following interesting 
note ; “ During the calm summer evenings in December, 1879, I observed hundreds of these little 
birds flying round the clumps of black birch trees which here and there dot the course of the Takia- 
huru stream, running through the Murimotu-karioi plain on the S.E. base of Kuapehu mountain. 
My curiosity being aroused, I climbed to the top of one of these trees, just after sunset, and obtained 
a close view of these birds hovering round the trees, and ever and anon darting hither and thither, 
very much in the zigzag manner in which bats pursue their prey. I found that the birds were 
chasing small moths, beetles, &c., and now and then when a large green beetle came booming along 
in its flight from the plain seeking a resting-place in the trees, a score of these pretty little birds 
would dart after it, uttering soft plaintive cries, till one more lucky than the rest carried off the prize. 
Both in that month and in the preceding one I found numbers of the young of this species lying, or 
squatting, on the sand-banks far up the course of the Whangaehu river.” 
Like the other Terns * this species breeds in colonies, placing its eggs (usually two in number) on 
the bare ground, without any attempt at forming a nest. It defends its breeding-place with a 
considerable amount of spirit, darting towards the intruder’s head, and uttering at the same time its 
harsh cry. The eggs are of an elegant ovoi do-conical form, measuring 1'6 inch in length by 1'2 in 
breadth ; and they present a considerable amount of diversity in their colouring and markings, varying 
from a pale yellowish brown to a dull olive, and marked over the entire surface with blackish brown, 
the spots being generally more numerous at the thicker end, but sometimes confluent in the middle, 
forming an irregular blotched zone. A specimen in the Canterbury Museum has the ground-colour 
of a pale greenish white, minutely speckled all over, but particularly at the thick end, with purplish 
brown ; another (collected on the 22nd of October) has the entire surface covered with small round 
spots. One of the specimens in my son’s collection is somewhat ellip to- conical in form, measuring 
1’9 inch in length by 1’25 in breadth, and is of a pale cream-colour, thickly and irregularly spotted 
with blackish brown, in different shades, over the entire surface. 
* Respecting Sterna frontalis Mr. Percy SejTnoiu' writes to me: — “ On the 22nd November I examined about a thousand 
nests of this species on Tomahawk Island, Otago Peninsrda. Eggs two and three in number. This cannot be accounted for, as 
Mr. Potts suggests, by supposing that more than one bird laid in one neat. In one instance two very peculiar eggs were found 
in the same nest ; they were of a pinkish colour, and spotted with red, very unlike the other eggs of this species. It is alto- 
gether outside the bounds of probability that the only two eggs of this description, out of more than two thousand eggs altogether, 
should by a coincidence have been laid by two different birds. A few of the nests contained only one egg each, but in these 
cases the eggs were usually fresh, while in the other nests they were more or less incubated.” 
