410 LARIDZ. 
Water Cay® (0. S.); Honpuras, Ruatan I. (Gaumer’); Nicaragua, Grey- 
town (Holland 14); Panama (M‘Leannan®), Santiago de Veragua (Arcé ® 13),.— 
ISLANDS OF ALL TROPICAL OcEANS, but almost unknown on the Pacific side of 
South America ®. 
The well-known “Sooty” Tern is very similar in colour to the preceding species, 
but is distinguished by its larger size and uniform mantle, which is not paler than the 
rest of the upper surface, as in §. anestheta: the frontal white band is broader, and 
the white streak above the eyes is also wider and does not reach beyond them, 
being separated by a narrow continuation of the loral stripe; the inner toe is also 
much less excised than in S. anestheta®. The young birds are sooty-brown below. 
Mr. Howard Saunders gives the habitat of the species as follows :—‘“ Tropical and 
juxta-tropical seas, wherever suitable islands and reefs exist; occasionally wandering 
to Maine in North America, and to Europe, even as far as England. Almost unknown 
on the South American side of the Pacific; otherwise very generally distributed.” 
S. fuliginosa occurs plentifully on the islands off the southern coast of Florida 4, 
and is found on both sides of Central America, breeding on the islands off the coast 
of British Honduras and also on Isabel Island, near San Blas, in Western Mexico 1617, 
Nelson found it plentiful in the vicinity of the Tres Marias, breeding on Isabel. 
He says that the species is never seen near the shore of the mainland, usually keeping 
far out at sea. It appears to be seminocturnal, and is a constant resident throughout 
the locality 8. Grayson also noticed S. fuliginosa near the Tres Marias and Socorro 
Island, but that it was only seen in scattered parties about the Revillagigedo group 16 19, 
In certain spots, such as the Island of Ascension, the Sooty Terns breed in incredible 
numbers, laying but one egg on the ground, without any attempt at a nest. The eggs 
resemble those of S. anestheta, but are somewhat larger; the surface-markings are 
coarser and of a brighter reddish-brown, frequently blending together at the broad end 
to form an irregular cap or zone; the ground-colour is usually of a creamy tint, and 
comparatively few eggs are tinged with pink; the underlying markings are generally 
large and clear’. 
¥9. Sterna antillarum. 
Sternula antillarum, Less. Descr. Mamm. et Ois. p. 256°. 
Sterna antillarum, Salv. Ibis, 1864, pp. 384°, 387°; 1866, p.199*; Coues, Ibis, 1864, p- 890°; 
Scl. & Salv. P. Z. 8. 1871, p. 571°; Lawr. Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus. no. 4, p- 52"; Baird, 
Brewer, & Ridgway, Water-Birds N. Amer. ii. p. 309°; A.O.U. Check-l. N. Amer. Birds, 
2nd ed. p. 26°; Saunders, Cat. Birds Brit, Mus. xxv. p. 122"; Oates, Cat. Eggs Brit. Mus. 
i. p. 194, t. 14. fig. 3°. 
Sterna superciliaris (nec Vieill.), Lawr. Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. ii. p. 318”. 
Sterna frenata, Dresser, Ibis, 1866, p. 44. . 
Pul. estiv. Minima; supra clare cinerea; loris et pileo toto nuchaque nigerrimis; collo postico et inter- 
scapulio summo vix albicantioribus; fronte usque ad supercilium anticum pure alba; alis dorso 
