284 WEB-FOOTED BIRDS. 



In the young of the year before the autumnal moult, the front, space 

 between the eye and bill, sides and fore part of the neck, as well as 

 all the lower parts pure white ; upon the sides of the breast there is 

 a large patch of blackish-ash. A crescent before the eyes, top of 

 the head, occiput and nape black. Back and scapulars brown, bor- 

 dered and tipped with pale rufous-white. Wings, rump, and tail, ash, 

 the coverts edged with rufous-white. Bill brown at its base. Iris 

 brown. Feet and legs livid brown. It is then, the Sterna naviaj 

 Gmel. sp. 5. <S'. boysii, var. A. Lath. Ind. ii. p. 806 sp. 10. A. La 

 Guifette, Buff. Ois. viii. p. 339. PI. Enlum. 924. Sandwich Tern, 

 var. A. Lath. Synops. vi. p. 358. Lesser Sea-Swallow, Albin. 

 Birds, ii. tab. 90. S. plumbea, or Short-Tailed Tern, Wilson, vii. p. 

 83. pi. GO. fig. 3. 



SOOTY TERN. 



(Sterna fuliginosa, Gmel. Wilson, viii. p. 145. pi. 72. fig. 7. Bo- 

 nap. Syn. No. 290. VHirondeUc de-mer a grande envcrguer, 

 Buff. viii. p. 345. Sooty Tern, Penn. Arct. Zool. ii. No. 447. 

 Lath. Synops. iii. p. 352. Phil. Museum, No. 3459.) 



Sp. Charact. — Bill black; front, exterior edge of the outer tail 

 feathers and all beneath white ; tail deeply forked ; webs of the 

 toes entire. 



This species generally inhabits the tropical seas ; being 

 widely dispersed into either hemisphere. It is observed on the 

 coasts of New Holland, New Guinea, and as far south nearly 

 as the 49th parallel. In the 8th degree of south latitude, 

 in the isle of Ascension, they breed in swarms, each laying 

 2 or 3 eggs, of a large size, yellowish, spotted with brown, 

 and pale purple. The flocks which possessed the various 

 parts of the island, perpetually breeding, in this mild lati- 

 tude, w^ere found laying at different times. In some places 

 the young were hatched and grown, in others were seen 

 eggs newly laid. They uttered a sharp and shrill cry, and 

 were so fearless of the men who visited the island, as to fly 



