406 LARIDZ. 
white, through cream-colour and pale buff, to brownish-buff. The markings are, as a 
rule, very bold, and consist of spots and blotches of dark brown approaching black, 
and underlying inky-purple. Some eggs are delicately marked with only small spots ; 
others are marked with huge confluent blotches, measuring quite an inch across, and 
between these two types every combination occurs °. 
’ 5. Sterna maxima. 
Hirondelle de mer de Cayenne, Daubent. Pl. Enl. ix. t. 988°. 
Sterna maxima, Bodd. Tabl. Pl. Enl. p. 587; Scl. & Salv. P. Z.S. 1871, p. 567°; Lawr. Mem. 
Bost. Soc. N. H. ii. p. 83184; Boucard, P. Z. S. 1883, p. 462°; Baird, Brewer, & Ridgway, 
Water-Birds N. Amer. ii. p. 284°; Ferrari-Perez, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. ix. p. 179"; Salvin, 
Ibis, 1889, p. 379°; A. O. U. Check-l. N. Amer. Birds, 2nd ed. p. 23°; Saunders, Cat. 
Birds Brit. Mus. xxv. p. 80°; Nelson, N. Amer. Fauna, no. 14, p. 24"; Oates, Cat. Eggs 
Brit. Mus. i. p. 187, t. 14. fig. 7”. 
Thalasseus maximus, Lawr. Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. no. 4, p. 51"; Sumichr. La Nat. v. p. 234". 
Sterna galericulata, Licht. Preis-Verz. Mex. Vig. p. 3"; Cab. J. £. Orn. 1863, p. 59"; Finsch, 
Abhandl. nat. Ver. Bremen, 1879, p. 359%"; Saunders, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxv. 
p- 81, note *. 
Sterna regia, Gambel, Journ. Acad. Phil. (2) i. p. 228%; Lawr. Ann. Lyc. N. Y. ix. p. 210”; 
Zeledon, Cat. Aves Costa Rica, 1882, p. 36”. . 
Thalasseus regius, Coues, Ibis, 1864, p. 388 °°; Salv. Ibis, 1864, p. 885”; 1865, p. 190*; 1866, 
p- 199”. 
Ptil. estiv. Major ; pileo et loris dimidiatim nigris; nuche valde cristata plumis acuminatis ; corpore supra 
margaritaceo-cinereo ; alis caudaque dorso concoloribus, margine carpali albo; collo postico et laterali 
cum loris dimidiatis, facie laterali et corpore subtus toto pure albis; rectricibus intus albidioribus, 
longioribus extus albis; primariis intus albis, extus cum area interna juxta rhachidem albam et apicem 
versus pogonii interni schistaceis vel schistaceo-nigris: rostro aurantiaco-rubro ; pedibus nigris ; iride 
saturate brunnea. Long. tota circa 19:5, ale 15:2, caude 3-9, rectrice extima 7°2, culm, 2°55, tarsi 1:3. 
(Descr. maris adulti ex Chiapam. Mus. nostr.) . 
Ptil. hiem. ptilosi estive similis, sed fronte et pileo antico albis, hoc nigro maculato; regione oculari et 
pileo postico cum nucha cristata nigris. Long. tota circa 18-0, ale 13-8. (Descr. av. hiem. ex Middle 
Cay. Mus. nostr.) 
Hab. NortH AMERICA, casually northward to Massachusetts and the Great Lakes, 
California, breeding from Virginia southward 9 !°—Mzuxico (Deppe & Schiede 16), 
Mazatlan (Bischoff *, Forrer °), Manzanillo, Colima (Lloyd 1°), Guaymas (Pal- 
mer *), Isabella I. (Grayson * 1"), Tres Marias Is. (Nelson "1), Gulf of Tehuantepec, 
San Mateo (Sumichrast 21+), Jalapa, Rio Rancho Nuevo, Vera Cruz (ferrari- 
Perez™ 1°), coast of Yucatan, Rio Lagartos® 1°, Cozumel I.* !° (Gawmer), Merida 
(Schott 2°); Brrrish Honpuras, Cays along the coast ®, Belize **, Glover’s Reef *° 
(0. S.); Guarema.a, both coasts * *4, Chiapam *? 93 (0, 8.) ; Honpuras (Dyson '°) ; 
Costa Rica (Zeledon *1).—Soutn America, both coasts, south to Santa Catherina 
and Peru 1°; West Inpies !°.—Westr Arnica 2, 
The Royal Tern is a denizen of Eastern North America, breeding from Virginia to 
