Subfamily STERNUNME, Bonap.
The members o f this family inhabiting Australia and Europe are nearly equal in number, and in each country
■examples of the same forms are found to exist; the Australian fauna has also a Gygis and an Onychoprion, neither of
which inhabit the European seas, and four species of Anoiis, of which only one frequents the northern hemisphere.
Genus S ylochelidon, Brehm.
560. Sylochelidon strenuus Vol. VII. PI. 22.
A representative of the S. Caspius of Europe.
Genus T halasseus, Bote.
The members of this genus, the type of which is the T. Cantiacus of the British Islands, are widely dispersed
over most parts of the Old World, and three distinct species inhabit Australia.
561. Thalasseus P e l e c a n o i d e s ..............................................................................Vol. VII. PI. 23.
562. Thalasseus poliocercus, Gould . . . . . . . . . . . Vol. VII. PI. 24.
563. Thalasseus Torresii, Gould . . . . . . . . . . . . Vol. VII. PI. 25.
Since my account of this species was printed I have seen adult specimens from Southern India, which country
is in all probability its true habitat.
Genus Sterna, Linn.
The members of this genus, as now restricted, enjoy so wide a range over the globe, that they may be said
to be univerally dispersed: three species are found in Australia.
564. • Sterna melanorhyncha, Gould . . . . . . . . . . . Vol. VII. PIT 26’
565. Sterna gracilis, Gould . Vol-. VII. PL 27:
566. Sterna melanauchen, Team...................................................................... Vol. .VII. PL. 28:
“ This beautiful bird,” says Mr. M‘Gillivray, “ is very local in its breeding-places, the only one known to me
being one of the 4 three sand-banks ’ near Sir Charles Hardy’s Islands. The eggs are two in number, deposited in
a slight hollow in the sand. I have seen this bird on another neighbouring sand-bank, also on Solitary Island, near
Cape York, and in Endeavour Straits, but was unable to procure a specimen from any of the three last-mentioned
localities, on account of its excessive shyness. I t is one of the most noisy of the Terns, and I generally saw it in
small parties of half-a-dozen, or thereabouts. The fully-fledged young of the year differs from the adult in having
the black on the head dark brown mottled with white, and the whole of the upper surface and wings variegated
•with dark brownish grey.”
Genus Sternula, Bote.
Europe and Australia are both tenanted by little Terns, the specific distinctness of which cannot be questioned,
however much that of the large Terns (genus Sylochelidon) may b e : ought we not then to infer that some peculiar
law prevails, and that if one be distinct the other is also ? However that may be, it is certain that birds regarded
as identically the same, because no external difference is perceptible, breed at opposite seasons in the two hemispheres,
and that if the birds of one hemisphere be brought and retained in the other, they continue to moult their
feathers and to breed at the same period that they would have done had they remained in .their native country.
567. Sternula Nereis, Gould Vol. VII. PL 29.
Genus Gelochelidon, Brehm.
I t would be strange if this form did not exist in Australia, when all the other European genera of Terns are
found there; still I have no other evidence of such being the case, than that of a specimen in the collection of
King’s College, London, which is said to be from Van Diemen’s Land, and to which in the year 1837 I gave the
name of Sterna macrotarsa.
568. Gelochelidon macrotarsus, Gould.
Sterna macrotarsa, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 26 ; and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part II.
Crown of the head and back of the neck black; all the upper surface and primaries light silvery-grey;
remainder of the plumage white; bill and feet black.
As I did not meet with this bird myself either in Van Diemen’s Land or in any other of the Australian regions,
I have not figured it.
Genus Gygis, Wagl.
One species of this Polynesian genus of Terns is. found in Australia.
569. Gygis Candida . . . . . ■ • . . ... . . Vol. VH. Pl. 30.
Genus Hydrochelidon, Boie.
The value of minor genera or subgenera, as naturalists may choose to designate them, is much strengthened,
when species, which have been assigned to either of them from countries so distant from each other as Australia
and Europe, are found to possess similar habits, but differing from those of the other members of the family. Thus
the members of the present little group inhabit the inland waters and marshes of both countries ; make their nests
among the rushes, and lay thickly-marked eggs, in both of which particulars they differ from the other T erns; the
generality of which deposit their eggs on the shingles of the sea-shore, while others, the Gygis Candida for instance,
lay their single egg on the horizontal branch of a tree, so totally unprotected, that how it is retained in its position
during windy weather is a perfect mystery; others again, such as the Noddies, bring together large masses of
sea-weed, which they either pile upon the swinging branch of a Mangrove or on the jutting point of a rock. All
these facts should be studied by ornithologists before they discard subgenera proposed by their fellow-labourers,
and replace the species they may have so divided in the genera of the older writers, who must necessarily have
known less of the subject; for wherever a difference occurs in the habits of the members of any great family a
variation more or less marked will be found in their structure. So far as my own observations go, and they have
not been few, if I have read the great book of nature aright, the genera, instead of being reduced, might with
propriety be multiplied without the risk of our being burthened with a genus for every species, as some writers
affect to fear would then be the case.
570. Hydrochelidon fluviatilis, Gould . . . . . . . . . . . Vol. VII. PL 31.
A fine marsh Tern differing from its European prototypes H. nigra, H. leucoptera, and H. leucopareia.
Genus Onychoprion, Wagl.
Of this form two species frequent the' Australian seas.
571. Onychopi’ion f u l i g i n o s u s ...................................................................................... ■ • Vol... VII. Pl. 32.
Although I have figured one of the two Australian birds of this genus under the above appellation, rather
than run the risk of unnecessarily adding to the number of species, I have no doubt it will prove to be distinct
from the American bird.