352 
STEKNID/E. 
breeds in colonies, making a slight nest of grasses or sea-weeds, 
placed upon the ledges of rocks, at other times upon the bare 
headlands or low sandy beaches. Phillip and French Islands in 
Western Port Bay are favourite breeding localities of this species, 
also King Island in Bass’s Straits. The eggs, usually three in 
number for a sitting vary considerably in the colour and disposition 
of their markings. A set taken on the i 7th November 1882, at 
Phillip Island, have a pale green ground colour heavily blotched 
with dark umber-brown markings, some of a lighter shade 
appearing as if beneath the surface of the shell. Length (A) 
2-15 x 1-49 inches; (B) 2-15 x 1-5 inches ; (C) 2-2 x 1-17 inches. 
A set taken by the late Mr. S. W. White, of the Reed Beds, 
near Adelaide, in 1878, are of a light olive-brown streaked and 
blotched with different shades of umber-brown, in three specimens 
the markings are scattered all over the surface of the shell, in the 
others they are confined to the larger end where they form ill-defined 
zones. Length (A) 2T8 x 1 -57 inches : (B) 2T5 x L5 inches ; (C) 
2T x 1'55 inches ; (D) 2-09 x 1-55 inches. 
The breeding season is during the months of October, November 
and December. 
Hub. Port Denison, Wide Bay District, Richmond and Clarence 
Rivers Districts, New Soutli Wales, occasionally on the rivers and 
swamps of the Interior, Victoria and South Australia, and 
Tasmania. (Ramsay.) 
Family STERNIDiE. 
Genus SYLOCIIELIDON, Brchn. 
SYLOCHELIDON CASPIA, Pall. 
Caspian Tern. 
Gould , Randbk. lids. Aust., Vol. ii., sp. GOO, p. 392. 
This bird ranges over the greater portion of the Australian 
Coast, the islands of Bass’s Straits and Tasmania. It deposits 
i 
