STERNA. 
357 
in the cleft of a rock, without any attempt at forming a nest for 
its reception. Specimens in the Dobroyde Collection, taken by 
Mr. Macgillivray on Bramble Cay in 1862, are of a creamy-white 
ground colour, spotted and blotched all over with irregularly 
shaped markings of dark reddish-brown and bluish-grey, the latter 
colour being nearly obsolete, and appearing as if beneath the 
surface of the shell; in one specimen, the markings are confluent 
on the larger end and form a coalesced patch. Dimensions of 
three average specimens are as follows : — length (A) 1 ’67 x 1 -27 
inch ; (B) 1-87 x 1*21 inch; (C) 173 x 1-25 inch. 
Sab. Port Darwin and Port Essington, Cape York, Rockingham 
Bay, Port Denison, Wide Bay District, New South Wales, Victoria 
and South Australia, West and South-West Australia, South 
Coast New Guinea. (Ramsay.) 
STERNA EULIGINGSA, Gmelin. 
Sooty Tern. 
Gould, Handbk. Bds. Ausl., Vol. ii., sp. 611, p. 408. 
This bird is found all over the coast line of Australia, but 
particularly on the northern and western shores. Its single egg 
is deposited in a slight depression in the sand; specimens in the 
Dobroyde Collection, taken by Mr. Macgillivray in 1862 on 
Bramble Cay, whither this bird resorts to breed in great numbers, 
vary considerably in their markings, the most usual variety 
found being white or of a creamy-wliite ground colour, spotted 
and blotched with irregular shaped markings of dark chestnut, 
reddish-brown and bluish-grey, the latter colour being very 
faint and hardly visible. Four averago sized specimens 
measure as follows: — length (A) 21 x T4 inches; (B) 2-09 x 
1-39 inches ; (C) 2 x 1-47 inches; (D) 2 x 1-45 inches. 
Tlio breeding season of this species in Torres Straits is during 
the months of May, June, and July, and at Lord Howe Island, 
from September till the end of January. 
I 
