THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Adult in winter-plumage. Distinguished from the summer- or breeding-plumage by 
the encroachment of the white of the fore-part of the head on to the idnder-crown, 
leaving only the nape and sides of the crown black, and a shade of black in front 
of the eye. 
Immature and Nestling. Do not appear to have been described. 
Nest. A depression in the sand. 
Eggs. Clutch, two ; ground-colour stone, spotted all over, but more on the larger 
end, with purphsh-red and sparingly with lavender-coloured spots ; axis 33 mm., 
diameter 26. 
Breeding-season. December (Byron Bay), October (North, Tweed River), November 
(Austin, Victor Island). 
Dr. Ramsay* says : “I first found this beautiful species in December, 
1865, at the mouth of the Richmond River, when I took it for S. nereis. I 
have repeatedly found them at different times during the last six years from 
as far south as Illawarra to Rockingham Bay in north-eastern Queensland, 
where it appears to be one of the most common species of Tern.” 
Mr. Northf records this bird breeding on the Tweed River Heads on 
October 7th, 1889. 
Mr. Austin^ found this species breeding on Victor Island, Queensland, 
in November, 1907. 
An egg in my collection was obtained at Byron Bay on December 
4th, 1904. 
Hull simply writes {EmUy Vol. X., p. 258, 1911) : “On a small sandspit 
[at Port Stephens ?] which we visited on our way home we found a few two 
and three sets of eggs of Sterna sinensis ” — without any further comment. 
The bird figured and described is a male, collected on the Queensland 
coast in November, 1880. 
The determination of the correct name to be used for the Eastern Wliite- 
shafted Ternlet has again necessitated the examination of the allied forms 
inhabiting the Old World. 
Following Saunders {Cat. Birds Brit. Mus.y Vol. XXV., p. 113, 1896) 
the Australian form was considered to be identical with the Chinese, and 
Gmelin’s name of S. sinensis has been generally used. A critical examination 
showed the inaccuracy of this, and I therefore used {Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., 
p. 209, 1912) Gould’s name of S. placens, ranking it as a subspecies of 
S. sinensis. 
When Saunders {loc. cit.) separated the Ternlets, he admitted Sterna 
minuta. Sterna saundersi, and Sterna sinensis ; but as Indian specimens were 
sometimes called Sterna minuta and sometimes Sterna saundersi, while 
* Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.) 1877, p. 347. 
t Rec. Austr. Mua., Vol. I., p. 39, 1890. 
X Emu, Vol. VII., p. 176, 1908. 
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