288 



LONG-WINGED SWIMMERS — LONGIPENNES. 



11 lIU 



deep black. Younr/ (first jjlutnar/c') : Pileui 

 where the feathers lire not eloiiyaluil, IniL.^hurL and 



anteriorly in a point near tlie end of the feather. Rest of the plumage, including nape, pure white, 

 the lower i)arts tinged with delicate rose-pink in fresh specimens. Bill red (yellowish or orange in 

 dried skins) ; iris hrown ; legs and feet black. Adult, in ivinter : Similar, but forehead and lores 

 white ; crown white, spotted with dusky ; occipital crest and side of head to in front of the eyes, 



Itrownish black, nearly uniform on the occiput, 

 lended ; whole crown streaked with white ; fore- 

 head and lores white, finely 

 streaked with black. Nape, 

 upper tail-coverts, and lower 

 parts, white, the lower part of 

 the fii'st with sparse roundish 

 spots ; back, scapulars, and wing- 

 coverts dirty whitish, coarsely 

 and irregularly spotted with 

 dusky brown, this color almost 

 uniform near the anterior portion 

 of tlie lesser wing-covert region, 

 the anterior border of which is 

 white ; secondaries dusky, bor- 

 dered terminally with white ; 

 primaries hoary slate, with a 

 narrow terminal border of white, 

 the imier webs mostly white, 

 Tail-feathers Iirownish slate, becoming grayish 

 Bill reddish ; feet dusky. 



with a broad dusky stripe next the shaft 

 basally, the ends conspicuously bordered with white 



Wing, 12.40-12.50 inches ; tail, 6.60-7.30, the depth of its fork, 2.G0-3.50 ; culmen, 2.25-2.55 ; 

 depth of bill through base, .45-.50 ; tarsus, 1.05-1.25 ; middle toe, .80-.86. 



This species has only a limited claim to a place iu the fauna of North America. 

 It is a Mexican and Central American species, and occurs on the coast of California 

 only occasionally, irregularly, and very rarely. It was procured on the Pacific coast 

 of Mexico by Dr. Gambel, and Avas particularly common near Mazatlan. Dr. Cooper 

 could procure no evidence that this species ever occurs so far north as San Diego, in 

 California. Mr. Salvin obtained, at San Salvador, in Central America, a specimen of 

 this Tern, which he regarded as being absolutely identical with the typical S. elegans 

 from the Gulf of California. It was taken in December, 18C2. 



A specimen of the egg of this Tern — obtained at Guaymas, west of Sonora, 

 Mexico, by Captain Stone (Smithsonian Institution, jSTo. 579) — measures 2.20 inches 

 in length by 1.45 in breadth. It has a ground-color of white with a pinkish tinge. 

 Its markings are quite bold and distinct, and are of a deep black and burnt sienna 

 color, with subdued shell-markings of lavender-gray. 



Sterna sandvicensis acuflavida. 



CABOT'S TEEN. 



Sterna cantiaca, Aun. Oni. Biog. III. 1835, 531, pi. 279 (not of Gmel. 1788) ; Synop. 1839, 317 ; B. 



Am. VII. 1844, 87, pi. 431. — CouES, Key, 1872, 320 ; Check List, 1873, no. 564 ; 2d ed. 1882, 



no. 796. 

 Sterna (Thalasseus) cantiaca, CouEs, B. N. W. 1874, 673. 



Sterna Boysii, Nutt. Man. II. 1834, 276 (not of Lath. 1790, = cantiaca, Gmel.). 

 Sterna acuflavida, Cabot, Pr. Bo.ston See. II. 1817, 257. — Lawr. in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858, 860. 



— Baiud, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 685. 

 Thalasseus acuflavidus, CouEs, Pr. Philad. Acad. 1862, 540 (critical). 

 Sterna cantiaca acuflavida, I^idgw. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 683. 



