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Show 1876.] MR. H. SAUNDERS ON THE STERNINvE. 663 A minuta of the same age, the difference in the colour of the shafts of the primaries was very apparent. There is often a grey tint on the rump and tail-coverts of winter-killed and immature specimens. STERNA SUMATRANA, Raffl. Sterna sumatrana, Raffles, Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. (1822) p. 329. Sterna pusilla, S. Miiller (fide Gray)-Timor and Java. Bill smaller and more slender than even in 5. antillarum, but with much black between the angle and tip ; tail-coverts and tail grey as in the back ; shafts of primaries black. Captain V. Legge has sent me a nearly adult specimen of this Tern from Ceylon ; and the fact of two such different forms as this and the preceding being met with there is somewhat remarkable ; a similar specimen is in my collection, from the coast of Fantee. Lord Walden has a specimen from Zoulla, Red Sea, obtained by Mr. W . Jesse; and that is all I know about this small dark form of the group, which is even darker than S. antillarum on the rump and tail, and has also a good deal more black on the bill. I have adopted Raffles's name for it, because the description and locality seem to fit it fairly ; and, in default of a larger series, I do not wish to incur the odium of making species upon slight grounds. STERNA NEREIS (Gould). Sternula nereis, Gould, P.Z.S. 1842, p. 140, B. Australia, vii. pl. 29 (1848)-Bass's Straits and West Australia. Sterna parva, Ellman, Zoologist, 1861, p. 7473. Sterna nereis, Pelzeln, Verh. zool.-bot. Gesellsch. Wien, xxii. p. 318 (1867); Buller, B. New Zeal. p. 285 (1873). Sterna minuta, Finsch, J. f. Orn. 1867, pp. 337, 347. Sterna alba, Potts, Trans. N.Z. Inst. 1870, p. 106. This species, which appears to be confined to Australia and New Zealand, may be distinguished from the other small Terns by its somewhat larger size, the paler grey of the mantle and especially of the primaries, and by its having no black lores, but only a dark spot in front of the eye. In the young the distinction is not so easy; but the primaries are always lighter than in S. minuta or S. sinensis. STERNA EXILIS, Tsch. Sterna exilis, Tschudi, F. Per., Aves, p. 306 (1846); Sclater, P. Z. S. 1867, pp. 336 & 344 ; Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1871, p. 572. Sterna lorata, Ph. & Landb. Wieg. Arch. 1863, pt. i. p. 124. Sternula loricata (!), Gray, Hand-list, iii. p. 121 (1871). The general smoke-grey of the under as well as the upper parts, and the large amount of black on the bill, will always serve to distinguish this species, of which I have only seen two specimens- one in Messrs. Salvin and Godman's collection, and one in the British Museum. Both these are from the coast of Peru and Chili ; but of its breeding-places we know nothing at present. |