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Show 1SS2.J FROM PERU AND CHILI. 521 grey, much lighter than in the adult, and the moustache-like plumes beneath the eye merely show traces of the white colour which is subsequently assumed. The breeding-haunts of this bird are still unknown; they are surmised to be on the island of San Lorenzo, in Callao Bay, and in similar situations along the coast, but nothing has yet been positively ascertained. STERNA MAXIMA, Bodd. Sterna maxima, Bodd. Tab. Pl. Enl. p. 58, no. 988 (1783) ; Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1871, p. 567 ; Saund. op. cit. 1876, p. 655. [No. 78 ( o* ), no. 79 ( $ ), Payta, January 1882. Eyes black.] Nearly adult, but the secondaries still show some of the dark markings indicative of immaturity, and only the crown and nape are as yet streaked with black ; the bill is orange-yellow. In the adult, in breeding-plumage, the entire crown from the base of the bill is deep glossy black-a characteristic which distinguishes it from Sterna bergii of the African and Indian seas, in which a broad fillet of white intervenes between the black forehead and the base of the bill. These two species were long confounded ; and as S. maxima, which is properly an American species, reaches across to the west coast of Africa, and even as far north as the Straits of Gibraltar, it may not be superfluous to point out this distinction. S. maxima has also a lighter mantle than &. bergii; but impinging upon the range of the latter comes a large light-mantled Tern, S. bernsteini, found between the island of Rodriguez and the island of Halmahera. This last very rare species, in its winter plumage, much resembles S. maxima ; the breeding-plumage is as yet unknown, so that it is at present impossible to say if the black crown extends to the base of the bill or is terminated by a white band. STERNA ELEGANS, Gamb. Sterna elegans, Gamb. Pr. Phil. Ac. iv. p. 129 (1848); Saund. P.Z.S. 1876, p. 653. [No. 32, Callao Bay, Sept. 1881 ; nos. 33 & 34, Coquimbo Bay, Nov. 1881. Eyes dark brown.] Adult, but not old, birds, in winter plumage, in which only the nape and crown are black. The Callao example is slightly smaller than the two others; but this is the only difference. It was with diffidence that I separated its Atlantic representative from this species, under the name of S. eurygnatha (P. Z.S. 1876, p. 654); but the subsequent examination of a more extensive series has hitherto confirmed the views then entertained as regards their specific distinctness, mainly based upon the relative position of the mandibular angle. The breeding-resorts of S. elegans are as yet unrecorded, nor have I hitherto succeeded in examining an adult in nuptial dress. It is known to frequent the coast as far north as California, and will probably be found breeding along the Pacific shores of Mexico; nevertheless Mr. Forrer, who found S. maxima abundant in Lower California, did not obtain S. elegans. |