Order LARI FORMES Family LARIDM. 
No. 130. 
THALASSEUS BERGII PELECANOIDES. 
TORRES STRAIT TERN. 
Sterna pelecanoides King, Survey Intertrop. Coasts Austr., Vol. IT., p. 422, 1826 ; 
Torres Strait, Queensland. 
Sterna pelecanoides King, Survey Intertrop. Coasts Austr.,VoL II., p. 422, 1826. 
Pelecanopus pelecanoides Wagler, Isis 1832, p. 277. 
Thalasseus pelecanoides Gould, Birds Austr., Vol. VII., pi. 23, 1848. 
Thalasseus cristatus (not Stephens) Gould, Handb. Birds Austr., Vol. II,, p. 394, 1865 ; 
Masters, Proc. Linn. Soo. N.S.W., Vol. I., p. 62, 1876. 
Sterna hergii North, Austr. Mus. Cat., No. 12, p. 354, 1889 ; Saunders, Cat. Birds Brit, Mus., 
Vol. XXV., p. 89, 1896 (pars) ; Campbell, Nests and Eggs Austr. Birds, p. 837, 1901 
(pars) ; Tunney, Emu, Vol. I., p. 73, 1902 ; Carter, ib., Vol. II., p. 105, 1902 ; id., 
ib., Vol. III., p. 208, 1904 ; Hall, Key Birds Austr., p. 88, 1906 (pars) ; Mathews, 
Handl. Birds Austral., p. 20, 1908 ; Ingram, Ibis 1908, p. 462. 
Sterna bergii pelecanoides Bangs, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harv., Vol. XXXVI., p. 257, 
1901 ; Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 208, 1912. 
Distribution. Northern Coasts of Austraha, from Torres Strait to North West Cape. 
Adult male. Similar to the adult male of Th. b. poliocercus, but larger and sMghtly hghter 
in the colour of the upper-parts ; cuhnen (exp.) 65 mm., wing 360, tarsus 30. 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male. 
Immature. Agreeing closely with the young stages of the next form but somewhat 
darker. 
Nest. A depression in the sand. 
Eggs. Clutch, one ; ground-colour stone, the markings being much heavier than is the 
case with the eggs of Th. poliocercus ; axis 60-61 mm., diameter 41-42. 
Breeding-season. March and April (Carter) ; May, June (MacgiUivray), July (North). 
The type of this species was collected by Captain King during his Survey of 
the Northern Coasts of Australia. 
MacgiUivray,* writing of this Tern from Torres Strait, says : “ This hand- 
some Tern, which supplies the place of the Thalasseus poliocercus upon the 
north-east coast, is generally distributed from Lizard Island to the southward 
as far northward as Bramble Quay, and is also to be found in Endeavour 
* Gould, Handb. Birds Anstr., Vol. II., p. 394, 1865. 
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