( 132 ) 

 466. Phaethusa magnirostris (Licht.). 



Sterna magnlrostris Licht., Dmiil. Verz. (1823) p. 81 (typ. ex Brazil — Mus. Berol.). 



Altagracia : ? ? ad. 6, 20. xi. 'fC. 



("aicara: SS ad. 24. ii., 8, 14. iii. ; 6 3 jnv. s. 14. iii. ; " $ ?" ad. 4, 5. (bis), Hi, 

 14 (bis) iii. '08. 



" Iris seal ; feet sulphur yellow ; bill canary, brightest at base." 



(Nos. 8505, 8923, 10250, 10380, 10385, 10386, 10412, 10413, 10439, 10479, 

 10480, 10481, 10482 Cherrie coll.) 



La Priciou, ('aura R. : ? ad. In. ii. loo] (Audr^ coll.) 



407. Sterna superciliaris Vieill. 



Sterna superciliaris Vieill., Noiir. Did. d'Hist. Xal. XXXII. (1819) p. 126 (e.\ Azara — Paraguay). 



Caicara : c? ? 5. iii. '98. " Iris seal : bill dark naples yellow ; feet dusky 

 sulpliur-yellow." 



(Nos. 10387, 10388 Cherrie coll.) 



46s. Rhynchops nigra cinerascens (Spix) (? ). 



[Hhi/iicliojis nigra Linn., Syst. Xal. Ed. X. (17:'i8) p. 138 (ex Catesby — Carolina),] 

 Jlhynchops cinerascens Spix, Ares Brnsil II. (1825) p. 80 pi. 102. (Hab. : In locis ripariis fl. 

 AmazoDum.) (There is not sufficient reason to reject Spix's name. It is true that be only 

 described immature birds, and that the character stated to distinguish them from Hh. niyni 

 were those of the young birds : but there is no doubt that he described the young of the South 

 American bird, and not that of lili. niijra). 



Caicara : S 15. iii. '98. "Iris dusky, feet orange-vermUion, bill blackish, base 

 orauge-chrome." (No. 10493 Cherrie coll.) 



This bird, which appears to be adult, differs from li/i. cinerascens {= melanura 

 Sw.) in the lighter whitish ashy under wing-coverts, wider white tips to the 

 secondaries (about half au inch), and wider (about one-tenth of an inch) white edges 

 to the rectrices. They stand thus between lib. cinerascens ( = melanura) and Rh. 

 intercedens, which has the secondaries white for more than an inch, slightly wider 

 white edges to the rectrices, and white under wing-coverts. Mr. Saunders describes 

 {Cat. B. XXV. p. 157) a similar specimen from Cozumel Island. 



Probably these birds belong to a fourth American species or subspecies, but 

 a skin from Cumana in Mns. Rothschild seems to agree with true Brazilian 

 cinerascens = melanura. Mr. Saunders includes the Orinoco in his localities for 

 melanura, but it is not apparent that he has examined s])ecimens from that river. 



Concluding Remarks. 



The avifauna of the Orinoco region has hitherto been very imperfectly known, 

 and consequently the foregoing article will be of some importance to the students 

 of South American ornithology. 



When Messrs. Cherrie and Klages went out to tiie Orinoco it was our hope 

 that at least one of them would be able to jirocecd to the unexplored tableland 



