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Show 652 MR. H. SAUNDERS ON THE STERNINA. [June 20, STERNA DOUGALLI, Mont. Sterna dougalli, Mont. Orn. Diet. Suppl. (1813) ; Vieillot, N. D. H. N. xxxii. p. 174 (1819), Gal. Ois. ii. p. 225 ; Steph. in Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. i. p. 153(1825); Scl. & Salv. P.Z.S. 1871, p.571; Coues, B. N . W . A m , p. 688(1874). Sterna paradisea, Keys. & Bias. Wirb. Eur. p. 247. no. 484 (1840) (nee Briinn.); Lawr. B. N . A m . p. 863 (1858); Coues, Proc. Phil. Acad. 1862, p. 551; Gray, Hand-list, iii. p. 119 (1871); Walden, Ibis, 1874, p. 149 (Andaman Is.). Sterna gracilis, Gould, P.Z.S. 1847, p. 222, B. Australia, vii. pl. 27 (1848), Handbook B. Austr. ii. p. 399 (1865) ; Gray, Handlist, iii. p. 119 (1871). "Sterna douglasii, Mont.," Schlegel, Mus. P.-B. Sterna, p. 24 (1863). " Sterna douglasi, Mont.," Blasius, J. f. Orn. 1866, p. 80. ? Larus polo-candor, Sparrm. Mus. Carl. ii. fasc. 4, no. 83 (1788). (" Habitat ins. Polo-candor, mari Chinensi.") The plate represents a very young Tern, apparently of this species. Bonaparte says (in his " Note's sur les Larides," in the Rev. et M . de Zool, 1854) that he has proved it to be a young Bissa! but any thing more unlike a Kittiwake it would be difficult to imagine. Apart from its light and elegant shape and its proportionally short wings, this species may always be recognized hy the white inner margins of the primaries, extending quite round the tips of the feathers as far as the outer webs; the rump and tail-coverts are washed with gray. The coloration of the bill varies considerably with age and seasons ; in some specimens it is black almost to the base, whilst in others the red or orange extends far in front of the angle. In American specimens the bill is, perhaps, a trifle stouter than in British examples, which are in this respect identical with birds from Africa and the Indian Islands. In these the red colour gradually encroaches upon the black, until, in two specimens from the Andaman Islands, in Lord Walden's collection, the black at the tip of the bill has almost disappeared, in which state it becomes the S. gracilis of Mr. Gould, whose typical specimen in the British Museum is iu every other respect identical with S. dougalli from any part of the world ; indeed, in his original description (in P. Z. S. 1847, p. 222) Mr. Gould calls it "a very elegant species, closely allied to S. dougallii of the British Islands," although he omits that remark in the ' Birds of Australia.' In view of these gradual changes in the amount of black in the bill, as exemplified by a series of upwards of fifty specimens from various localities, I must consider S. gracilis merely a form of S. dougalli with more red in its bill than is usual in northern specimens. I do not find authentic records of the occurrence of this bird beyond 57° N. lat., south of which it ranges in scanty numbers along the British and European coasts, and goes up the Mediterranean at least as far as the Balearic Islands, whence Canon Tristram possesses an adult obtained in May. I have not seen any specimens from the west coast of Africa, all those so marked |
