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Show 1876.J MR. H.SAUNDERS ON THE STERNINA. 657 Sylochelidon caspia, Brehm, Vo». Deutsch. p. 770 (1831), type of Sylochelidon ; Bias. J. f. Orn. 1866, p. 82; Gould, Handbk. B. Austr. ii. p. 392 (1865). Sylochelidon- balthica et A schillingii, Brehm, Vogel Deutsch. p. 769, 770 (1831). Helopus caspius, Wagler, Isis, 1832, p. 1224 (type of Helopus). Thalassites melanotis, Swain. B. W . Af. ii. p. 253 (1837) (type in Camb. Mus. examined, //. Si). Sylochelidon strenuus, Gould, P. Z. S. 1846, p. 21 ; Gould, B. Austr. vii. pl. 22 (1848). Sylochelidon melanotis, Bp. Compt. Rend. 1856, p. 772. Sterna melanotis, Hartl. Orn. West-Afr. p. 254 (1857). Sterna major, Ellman, Zool. 1861, p. 7472. This large and well-known Tern is found from Northern Europe to New Zealand, and in America from Labrador, where it breeds, down to New Jersey. Mr. Bernard Ross also found it as far west as Great Slave Lake and the Mackenzie river. It is now generally conceded that there is but one species. With regard to the name, Dr. Elliott Coues very justly remarks that it is undesirable to adopt Lepechin's cacophonous name, in place of the well-known one given by Pallas, merely on the score of a priority of 82 pages. STERNA BERNSTEINI, Schlegel. Sterna bernsteini, Schlegel, Mus. P.-B. Sterna, p. 9 (1863) ( <3, winter E. coast of Halmahera ; type in Leyden Mus. examined, H. Si). Thalasseus bernsteini, Bias. J. f. Orn. 1866, p. 81. This large and very light-coloured species, the mantle being even paler than in S. cantiaca or S. maxima, is classed by Prof. Schlegel amongst the group which has the white frontlet band in the breeding-plumage. This may be the case; hut I can discern no proof of it in the type and only specimen in the Leyden Museum, nor in two others from the Island of Rodriguez in the British Museum, nor in two others from Round Island and Ile de la Baleine, in the collection of Messrs. A. & E. Newton ; for all these, the only ones I have ever seen, are equally in winter dress. The bill is yellow; but the black at the apex in the type is probably an individual peculiarity. This Tern is closely allied to S. maxima ; and, until we obtain a specimen in full plumage, its place seems to be next to it in order. The dimensions are:-Wing 12-5 to 13 inches; tarsus 1*1; foot, including middle claw, 1*15; bill 1*8. STERNA BERGII, Licht. Sterna bergii, Licht. Verzeich. p. 80 (1823), South Africa (type in Berlin M . examined, H.S.); Schlegel, Mus. P.-Bas, Sterna, p. 11 (1863); Finsch & Hartl. Vog. Ost-Afr. p. 828 (1870); Shelley, B. of Egypt, p. 298 (1872). Sterna cristata, Steph. in Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. i. p. 146 (1825) (nee Swainson) ; Swinhoe, Ibis, 1860, p. 68, 1863, p. 30. |
