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Show 642 MR. H. SAUNDERS ON THE STERNINA. [Julie 20, and also by Temminck, under date of the same year ; the former, however, give a coloured plate, and their claim to the earliest discrimination of its distinctness seems to be generally acknowledged. It is to be regretted that Mr. G. R. Gray and others should subsequently have identified it with Sterna nigra of Linnaeus, for which there does not appear to have been any reasonable ground ; for, as I trust to show when treating of the Black Tern, Linnseus's description can only apply to that species. By its longer and more slender toes and claws, and deeply incised webs, this species may be distinguished from H. nigra at all ages; whilst its generally smaller dimensions serve to separate the young from that of H. hybrida. In the immature plumage also the upper tail-coverts are whiter than in II. nigra, in which the grey of the back continues over the rump and throughout the tail; but the above white band is somewhat dependent upon the make of the skin, and is not an unfailing guide with such specimens as the one Mr. J. H . Gurney had before him (which is now in m y collection) when he identified it as Sterna fissipes. O n raising the feathers on the rump, however, it will be seen that there is much more white at the base of those of H. leucoptera than in those of H. nigra; and in properly preserved skins the white band on the rump is clearly defined even in very young birds. The adults in summer can hardly be mistaken even on the wing, the black under wing-coverts being very conspicuous, (whereas in H. nigra they are pale grey) ; in winter and immature plumage the under wing-coverts are white. A straggler to northern Europe, this Tern becomes abundant in the south and south-east, ranges throughout Siberia aud China, and reaches to the Transvaal and Damaraland and to Abyssinia, whence I have several specimens, all in immature plumage ; there is, however, little doubt that it breeds there. It has also been obtained in Australia and New Zealand, and is recorded by Dr. E. Coues as having been captured in Wisconsin, U. S., on 5th July 1873, in full breeding-plumage. HYDROCHELIDON NIGRA (Linn.). Sterna nigra, Linn. S. N. i. p. 227 (1766), F. S. p. 159 ; Meyer & Wolf, Tasch. Deutsch. Vog. ii. p. 461 (1810); Temm. M. d'Orn. p. 484(1815). Sterna navia, Linn. S. N. i. p. 228 (1766), ex Brisson (jr.). Sterna fissipes, Linn. S. N. i. p. 228 (1766) ; Schlegel, Mus. P.-B. Sterna, p. 29 (1863). Larus merulinus, Scop. Ann. i. Hist. Nat. p. 81 (1769). Sterna surinamensis, Gm. S. N. i. p. 604 (1788). Sterna plumbea, Wilson, Am. Orn. vii. p. 83, pl. 60 (1813). Hydrochelidon nigra, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 563. Viralva nigra, Steph. in Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiii. p. 167 (1824). Anous plumbea, Stephens, in Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. i. p 142 (1826); (ex Wilson). V V Hydrochelidon fissipes, G. R. Grav, Gen. Birds, iii. p. 660(1849); Bias. J. f. Orn. 1866, p. 82 ; Degl. & G. Orn. Eur. ii. p. 465 (1867) |
