AUSTRALIAN ROSEATE TERN. 
of body white, as also the axillaries and under wing-coverts ; bill black, base red ; 
iris grey ; feet red, claws black. Total length 400 mm. ; culmen 40, wing 212, 
tail 152, tarsus 21. 
Adult female. Similar to thb adult male. 
Adult male in winter 'pluumge. Differs from the adult in breeding-plumage by its white 
forehead and black and white head and nape. 
Immature. Similar to the adult in winter-plumage, but having the primaries greyish- 
brown, the bill black, iris brown, feet dark reddish-black. The nape and head 
blackish-brown, and a grey band along the upper wing-coverts. 
Nestling. “ Channel Rock, Torres Straits, June 1881 : Iris black, bill black, legs and feet 
grey.” The bill is black ; the whole of the top of head, taking in the eyes, nape and 
back of neck black with white tips, the black in front of the eye and the ear-coverts 
more distinctly marked. Back of the neck pure white ; upper-back black or dark 
brown and white spottings, lower-back, rump, and upper tail-coverts pale grey with 
indistinct white tips ; tail-feathers grey, with brown triangular spots near the 
apex, which is white-tipped ; greater wing-coverts dark grey, median and lesser 
pale grey with hghter tips, primary- quills dark ashy-grey, the outer ones almost 
black, inner half of inner webs pure white, inner secondaries and long scapulars 
brownish spotted with white, and with grey base and white tips ; all the under 
surface pure white. 
Young in down. “ White underneath, rest of surface slightly mottled ; feet and bill 
pink ; eyes dark ” (Campbell). 
Nest. “ A slight depression (about 5 inches across by 1 inch deep) in the sand or ridge 
of dead coral, sometimes partially Hned with fine pieces of coral shells, etc. 
Nests in colonies ” (Campbell). 
Eggs. Clutch, two; ground-colour buff or stone, boldly marked with reddish-brown, to 
very fight grey, blotches ; axis 40-41 mm., diameter 29. 
Breeding-season. April, June (Beddoes), November (Carter), December (Campbell). 
Mr. J. W. Mellor, who observed these birds in the Capricorn group, off the 
coast of Queensland, in October, 1910, says : “ They were in pairs and alighted 
on the beautifully white coral sand of the Island ; their rose-tinted bodies 
making a marked contrast.” 
Gilbert, who collected the type of this species on Houtman’s Abrolhos, 
off the western coast of Australia, found it very common there, and it was 
continually moving about from one part of the islands to another, and 
settling in large flocks, during the heat of the day, on the coral ridges. 
Mr. A. J. Campbell, who visited the same group in December, 1889, found 
them nesting in scores on parallel ridges of dead coral forming the narrowest 
part of Pelsart Island. 
Mr. Tom Carter says this species is fairly common about Point Cloates in 
the summer months. Several clutches of eggs, much incubated, were seen on 
Fraser Island, North-west Australia, in November, 1893. 
* Gould, Handh. Birds Austr., Vol. II., p. 399, 1865. 
359 
