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Show 568 MESSRS. SCLATER AND SALVIN [Julie 20, collected by Mr. Rogers on the coast of South Brazil. There can therefore be no question of its being found in the intermediate localities. As it appears to agree better than any other species with Buffon's Grande Hirondelle de Mer de Cayenne (Hist. Nat. ix. p. 219; Pl. Enl. 988), we adopt Boddaert's name Sterna maxima, as the first applicable to the bird. The only other large Tern to which Buffon's description and plate could possibly be referable is Sterna galericulata. But the bill of Buffon's figure is much more nearly like the stout bill of Gainbel's S. regia than the slender incurved bill of S. galericulata. Fig. 1. Head of Sterna maxima (reduced one-third). S. erythrorhynchos of P. Max. and Burmeister seems to be founded on Brazilian specimens of this species. S. maxima is at once distinguishable from all other Neotropical Terns by its large size and strong straight bill (see fig. 1), which is upwards of 2k inches in length from the front. Its wing measures from 14 to 15*5 inches. <S. galericulata, which comes next to it in size (wing 11*5 to 12 inches), has the bill equally long, but much more slender and incurved (see fig. 2, p. 569). In the adult S. galericulata the under plumage has a rosy tinge, which we have never seen in skins of the present species. 2. STERNA GALERICULATA. Sterna galericulata, Licht. Doubl. p. 81; Schlegel, Mus. des Sternee, p. 7. Sterna elegans, Gamb. Pr. Ac. Nat. Sc. Phil. iv. 129 ; Baird, B. N. A. 860, pl. 94 ; Le'otaud, Ois. de Trin. p. 542. Thalasseus elegans, Coues, Ibis, 1864, p. 389 ; Salvin, Ibis, 1866, p. 198. Sterna comata, Ph. et Landb. Wiegm. Arch. 1863, pt. 1, p. 126. Hab. Tehuantepec (Sumichrast); Pacific coast of Honduras (Dow); Trinidad (Leotaud); Brazilian coast (Licht.); Arica, Peru (Frobeen). Of this species Salvin has one specimen in winter plumage, shot by Capt. D o w in the Bay of Fonseca (which has been compared by Dr. Coues with the type of S. elegans), and a second specimen in full breeding-plumage from Tehuantepec. Two skins obtained by |