| OCR Text |
Show 654 MR. II. SAUNDERS ON THE STERNINA. [Julie 20, Thalasseus elegans, Gamb. Journ. Phil. Acad. ser. 2, vol. i. p. 228 (1849); Coues, Pr. Phil. Acad. 1862, p. 540; Ibis, 1864, p. 389 (San Salvador); Salvin, Ibis, 1866, p. 198 (Fonseca Bay). Sterna comata, Phil. & Landb. Wieg. Arch. 1863, pt. 1, p. 126. Sterna galericulata (part.), Scl. & Salv. P.Z.S. 1871, p. 569; Coues, Key, p. 319 (1872), B. N . W . Am. p. 671 (1874). A recent examination of Lichtenstein's type of S. galericulata has shown it to be identical with the Cayenne Tern, S. maxima, Bodd. ; so that Gambel's name must be restored. It occurs on the Pacific side of America, from the Gulf of California to the coasts of Peru and Chili; but I consider that the bird found on the Atlantic coast is distinct, although closely allied. Three specimens which I have examined in Mr. Salvin's collection, from the Pacific side, and two others in the British Museum, from Chili or Bolivia, all agree in having a longer foot and tarsus (*2 inch) than the Atlantic bird; but the principal distinction is in the bill; the angle of the lower mandible being well in advance of the front portion of the nostril (*5 inch diagonally) in the Pacific birds, whereas the angle is almost directly under the nostril in the Atlantic form; the colour of the bill also is red or orange in the former and yellow in the latter, even in tolerably fresh specimens, which still preserve the beautiful roseate tint of the underparts. It is perhaps as well to mention that these remarks are founded upon perfectly well-made skins, the tips of the mandibles being in their proper relative positions ; otherwise it might be supposed that the under mandible had been unduly drawn back; the difference, however, on comparison, is very striking, as will be seen by the annexed woodcut. Fig. 1. Head of Sterna eurygnatha. As the Atlantic bird has not hitherto been distinguished, I propose to call it * STERNA EURYGNATHA, sp. nov. S. similis Sternae eleganti, sed rostro flavo et mandibula angulo sub narium apertura antica posito distinguenda. |
