THE BIRDS OP AUSTRALIA. 
my systematic list as S. poliocerca, not with, the idea of reversing my opinion, 
given at page 1027 of the Birds of Ceylon, where I agreed with Mr. Saunders, 
our chief authority on these interesting birds, that it was identical with the 
Indian Ocean crested Tern, S. Bergii, but in order to retain it for the present 
as a local race or subspecies under Gould’s name, S. poliocerca. Terns of wide 
range vary much in size, and the Bass Straits Tern is the smallest form of the 
Crested Tern of Indian seas ; the graduations in size, however, in specimens 
from various localities being so regular that the Southern bird is not considered 
by Mr. Saunders to hold its own as a distinct species. When examining the 
specimen in his collection I found 8. poliocerca to range as low as 12.75 in the 
wing against 15.12 in the largest specimens from the Persian Gulf. Since coming 
to Tasmania I have procured a fully adult specimen with a wing of 12.0, and 
I find that the bird is different in its note and habit from the Indian Tern, 
and that its plumage is beautifully suffused with rose-colour on the under 
surface — a feature not observed in specimens of true 8. Bergii. Should 
individuals from all parts of Australian seas show the same small size, I am 
of opinion that 8. poliocerca may stand as a distinct species.” 
Mr. Littler says that this Tern is less plentiful on the northern coast of 
Tasmania than on the southern, where it nests in fairly large colonies on 
some of the small islands, notably the Acteons. 
Mr. Charles Belcher tells me this bird is common about Geelong, Victoria, 
where it is plentiful in autumn and winter. The young birds of the preceding 
year make their appearance about February. It is very unlikely that this 
Tern breeds anywhere in Victoria west of Port Phillip, and the birds which 
visit that part of the country probably come from the islands of Bass Strait, 
or possibly from the smaller mainland rookeries near Cape Wollomai. 
Mr. Mellor says he found this Tern common in South Australia, where 
it breeds on Dangerous Beef, Spencer Gulf. On January 16th, 1907, he visited 
this rookery, and found the birds sitting on their one egg ; they were with 
difficultv flushed. 
Mr. A. J. Campbell* found this Tern breeding on an islet in Guichen Bay, 
South Australia, on November 26th, 1906. The birds were in hundreds, 
and were sitting upon fresh eggs in little, shallow hollows on the rock or 
sand among the short vegetation on the summit of the islet. He found one 
egg to be the usual clutch, two being found in only two nests. 
Mr. Hull,t writing of these birds on Montagu Island, says the colony 
there consists of about 3,000 birds. In September of 1907, when he left the 
island a few birds had arrived, but they did not lay until late in October^ 
■f 
* Emu, Vol. VI., p. 139, 1907. 
t Vol. VIII., p. 85, 1908. 
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