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ENERO DAG Can ON: XCV

Genus GeLocueLipon, Brehm.

It 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 Gyars, Vag.
One species of this Polynesian genus of Terns is found in Australia.

569. Gygis candida ; : : ; : : : ; : ; : s : ; NO Ee Vele ee belies ()

Genus HyprocuEeiipon, Bore.

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 differmg 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 Terns ; 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 poimt 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 . : : 4 ; ‘ i : : : : Woll, WIUL, IPL Bil.

A fine marsh Tern differing from its European prototypes H. nigra, H. leucoptera, and H. leucopareia.

Genus Onycuoprion, Vag.
Of this form two species frequent the Australian seas.

571. Onychoprion fuliginosus Vol Vil; Br 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.

 

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