HYDROCHELIDON. 
353 
from two to three eggs on the bare ground, usually on the headlands 
and low promontories of the coast. A set of three taken by the late 
Mr. S. White of the Reed-beds, South Australia, are of a light stone 
colour, spotted and blotched all over with irregular shaped 
markings of umber and blackish-brown, some of which appear as 
if beneath the surface of the shell, particularly in one specimen 
(A), where they become confluent towards the larger end. 
Length (A) 2-61 x 1-68 inches ; (B) 2-62 x L75 inches; (C) 2-41 
x 1-73 inches. 
Two eggs taken on King Island, in Bass’s Straits, in November 
1878, are of a stone colour thickly covered with longitudinal 
markings of blackish-brown, others with bluish-black markings 
appearing as if beneath the surface of the shell. Length (A) 2'47 
xl-G8 inches; (B) 2 - 35 x 1 *65 inches. 
Two eggs in the Macleayan Museum Collection, taken on 
Bountiful Island, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, give the following 
measurements:—length (A) 2'5G x 1-7 inches; (B) 2'63 x l - 75 
inches. 
The breeding season commences in September and continues 
throughout December. 
Ilab. Gulf of Carpentaria, Cape York, Rockingham Bay, Port 
Denison, Wide Bay District, Richmond and Clarence Rivers 
Districts, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, 
Tasmania. {Ramsay.) 
Genus HYDROCHELIDON, Boic. 
HYDROCHELIDON HYBRIDA, Pallas. 
(II. Jluviatilis, Gould.) 
Marsh-Tern. 
Gould, Ilandbk. Bds. Ausl., Vol. ii., sp. 610, p. 406. 
This Tern is widely dispersed over the Australian Continent, 
and is found frequenting the inland rivers and lagoons, it constructs 
a nest of sedges and other aquatic herbage, and attaches it to weeds 
w 
