40 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



HYDROCHELIDOIir LARIFORMIS (Lin.). 



I see no reason whatever for rejecting the name Sterna nigra for this 

 species, because there can be no doubt about which species Linn^us 

 has described under this name. That Gray and others have used the 

 names Jissrpes for this species, and erroneously given the appeUation 

 nigra to another, cannot be a hiuderance to the restoring of the proper 

 name. The Ibllowing citations from Linnet's descriiitiou in Fauna 

 Snec, 2d ed. p. 50, will be sufficient to show that he means the common 

 black Tern: ^^ Color iotius avis supra canus''^ and ^'■remiges d' rectricbs 

 omnes unicolores & subtus alhescentes.'''' From these it is evident that the 

 rump and upper surface of the tail are gray, which are the very charac- 

 teristic features of the bird occurring in Scandinavia, in opposition to 

 leucopfera Meisn., which has the rump and the upper surface of the tail 

 white, being one of the rarest stragglers in the country of Linn^us. 

 His statement '■'■Hahitat Ultunw prope Upsaliam''^ therefore corroborates 

 the opinion here expressed. 



The synonjauy of the European form is the following: 



Hi/drochelidon nigra (Lix. ). 



1758. — Sterna nigra Lix., Syst. Nat. ed. 10, I, p. 137 {nee Gray). 



1758. — RalhiH lariformis Lix., toui. cit. p. 153. 



17m.— Sterna nwcia Lix., Syst. Nat. ed. 12, I, p. 228 (nee Fall.). 



1766. — Sterna fissipes Lix., ut supra (nee Fall.). 



1769. — Sterna merulinus ScoP.. Aun. I, Hist. Nat. p. 81. 



1788. — Sterna obscura Gmul., Syst. Nat. I, p. 608 (nee Lath.). 



1831. — Hijdroclididon nigricans Brm., Haiidb. Vog. Deiitschl. ]). 794. 



The American form has the following synonymy : 



Hiidroclitlidon nigra surinamensis (Gmel.). 



1788. — Sterna surinamenHis Gm., Syst. Nat. I, p. 604. 



ISV^.—Sterva pltimhea Wils. Am. Orn. VII (p. 83, pi. 60). 



lS2d.— Sterna nigra Bp., Syn. (p. 355). 



li^m.—Sterna frenata Salvix, Ibis, 1860, p. 278 {nee Gambel). 



im-^.~Hf/drochelidon fissipe>< CouES, Pr. Phil. Ac. 1862 (p. 554). 



1874. — Bijdrnchelidon lariformis CouES, Birds of N. W. p. 704. 



I860.—Hydrochelidon lariformis surinamensis Ridgw. Pr. U. S. Nat. Mns. 1880, p. 208. 



STERCORAEIUS CEEPIDATUS and PARASITICUS. 



Since the first separation of the two species, which are called "Rich- 

 ardson's Jaeger" and " Long-tailed Jaeger,'' much dispute among authors 

 has arisen from the question, to which of these ^i)ec\GS the piarasiticus of 

 LiNN^us really belongs.* At one time the (me opinion has been the 

 ])revailing one, and at other times the opposite belief. For a long time 

 the "Richardson's Jaeger" held the name in unquestioned possession. 



* All the authors before 1800 (except Brissox and Guxxerus, who in 1767 give Ihe 

 name parasiticus to Richardson's "Jaeger;" see Leem, Beskr. Finm. Lapp. pp. 239 

 and 287) confound the two species. 



