STERNA LUNATA, PEALE'S TERN. 703 



These two are the same bird, auil I presume them to be the " infuscafa, Licht.," of 

 Gray's Hand-list, though I have no meaus of satisfying myself that such is the case. 

 These birds run extremely close to the subject of the present article (my former dis- 

 color) — too close to be specifically separated, though a geographical variety is indicated. 

 The bill is much slenderer, only 0.30 high at the base. The frontal lunula reaches but 

 little beyond the eyes, instead of nearly half an inch behind them ; the loral black 

 stripe is narrower. The black cap is separated from the smoky-gray back by a very 

 narrow, sharp, cervical collar, instead of a more gradual change. Only the outer tail 

 feather is mostly white, instead of the two outer. The size of equally adult specimens 

 is noticeably less — wing about 9.75 instead of 10.50. Now there is no reasonable doubt 

 that Gray's Nos. 11080 and 11082 are one and the same bird ; i. e., that there is but one 

 of these "sooty" Terns hcside fiUiginosa ; Blasius has already said so, and I entirely 

 agree with him. The question is as to the distribution of the synonymy between the 

 two varieties. Gmelin's and Latham's names, panaijenHis and punana {hoX\\^ana'stheta, 

 Scop., L c), apply as well to one as to the other. As to nuhUosa, Sparnim., Gray has it 

 under hifnscata, while Blasius assigns it far elsewhere — to cantiaca; the name is thus 

 obviously too uncertain to be used. 



Blasius recognizes but three species of Haliplana : hinata, Peale, panayensis and fu- 

 liginosa ; and such is emphatically my own decision. To the latter, fiiUc/inosa, he 

 assigns as synonyms infuscafa, Licht., and melanoptera, Sw., besides the woll-kuowu 

 serrata and (/xttata of Forster, throwing upon panaiiensis all the rest of the synonymy, 

 namely, fulifiiuosa and fuV((juJa, Licht. ; iufuscata, Rupp. ; aiitarctica, Cuv. ; oahnenais, 

 Blox. ; and discolor, Cones. It is ])robably not possible to locate all these names satis- 

 factorily, nor to reconcile the conflicting views respecting them. 



To complete an account of this group of dark-colored Terns with white frontal lu- 

 nula and white under parts, and black bill and feet, I append a notice of S. Itinata, 

 Peale.* 



Genus HYDROCHELIDOX, Boie. 



X liaUus, sp., Linn., Syst. Nat. i, 1758 (ed. x), 153. 

 <^ Sterna, Linn., Syst. Nat. 



=^U)idroclieUdon, Boie, Isis, 1822, 563. (Type <S. nigra, Linn.) 

 = Viralra, Lkach, Gen. Zool. xiii, 1826, 166. (Same type.) 



= Fclodes, Kavp, Sk. Eut. Eur. Thierw. 1829, p. 107. (Type S. leucopnreia, Nattekkh ; 

 ^^hijhrida, Pall.) 



Gen. ch. Bill a little shorter than the head, longer than the middle toe and claw ; 

 veru delicate, slender, acute: culmen and commissure decidedly declinato-couvex, the 

 amount of curvature increasing toward the tip ; outline of rami and gonys botli con- 

 cave, the former most so ; eminentia symphysis prominent and very acute. Wings 

 exceedingly long, pointed, of same color as back, without distinct markings on either 

 web. Primaries broad and not very tapering, not acute ; the tertials vei\v short, 

 rounded, not slender nor llnwing, reaching in the folded wing only half way to the tip 

 of the longest primary. Tail rather short, contained 2i times in the wings, oiili/ modcr- 

 atelij emarginate (much as in Gelochelidon), the lateral feathers but little exceeding the 

 next, not tapering and acuminate ; all tlio feathers broad and rounded. Feet slender 

 and short; tarsi mucli abbreviated, rather less than the middle toe alone. Toes mod- 

 erately long; the webs rather narrow, and very deephj incised. Size suuill, general form 

 delicate; colors mosthj black, the wings and tail plumbeous, in type of the gi^iius. 



The group of Terns, of which S. lariforniis of Liniueus may be taken as the type, forms 

 a natural assemblage! very cloEcly allied to Sterna proper, but diJlcring in certain 



* Sterna htnata, Peale, U. S. Expl. Exped. 1846, No. 725; Cass., ibid. 1858, No. 716; 

 FiNSCH &. Hautl., Fn. Central Pol. pi. 18, f. '.i.—Ifi/dnichelidon {Haliplana) Innata, 

 Ghay, Hand-list, No. 11061.— Haliplana lunata, Blas.", J. f. O. I.'^66, tO. (l)escrij)tiou 

 from the type of the species. No. 15744, Paumotu Islands ( Vincennes), Sept. l-^oO.) Bill 

 and feet bhick. Cap black, with a long, narrow, white frontal Inuule, whose horns 

 reach behind the eyes, catting otf a black striiie throngli the eye to the base of the bill 

 at the nasal fossa. Upper i)arts uniform dark grayish |)luml)eous (not smoky gray), 

 the color extending on the wing-coverts and tail. Ciiliital edge of fore-aiiu rather 

 darker than other upper jiart^. (j)uiils fuscous, silvered with the color of tlie mantle, 

 their inner w<'bs with the usual white? stripe, which, however, does not nearly reach 

 their ends. On the longer primaries, where this stripe is sharpest, it is bordered inter- 

 nally with a narrow prolongation of the fuscous along thi! margin of the inner web. 

 Outer tail feather white for all that portion which is overlaid by the next feather, its 

 outer web white to the tip; next tail feather with considerable white basally on the 

 inner webs. Entire under parts ]iure white. Length may have been about 13 inches; 

 wing, 10.25; tail about (>, forked full half its length; bill along eulmeii, 1.6<i; tar.sus, 

 0.75; niiddh) toe and claw, rather over 1. This species is the obvious link between 

 '^Haliplana" and Sterna proper. 



