ORNITHOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS. • 83 



or still larger flocks ot R. hrevirostris, among which not a single black- 

 legged iudividnal could be detected. * * * And thus the red- 

 legged form completely excluded the other along the eastern shore." 

 (Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1883, p. 60.) 



On Copper Island, however, I found the two species breeding to- 

 gether on the same rocky wall— the black-feet always higher up than 

 the present species. The two kinds were easily distinguished when 

 sitting on the nests, hrevirostris having the gray of the mantle of a 

 perceptibly darker shade than polUcaris. 



Only one specimen was brought home. Quite a series, however, was 

 procured at Tolstoj Mys, Bering Island, on the 27th of August, but the 

 terrible storm of wind and rain which we encountered in the afternoon, 

 and which lasted for three days, spoiled the specimens and made prepa- 

 ration impossible. We had enough to do in taking care of the boat, the 

 tent, guns, and collections already prepared. 

 The measurements of this specimen are as follows : 



Ad., V. S. Nat. Mus. Xo. 89125; L. Stejneger No. 1488. DiJdj Mys, Bering Island, 

 August 23, 1882. 



Total leugth, 402"^'^; wing, 324'"'^; tail-feathers, 132™™; cnlmon, 29""^; tarsus, 

 33™™. 



Iris dark brown. Bill lemon yellow, greenish towards tip ; angle of mouth and in- 

 terior of gape orange-red. Naked eye-ring and feet vermilion red. 



It may be well to state here that the color of the feet in the fresh bird 

 during the summer is pure vermilion, and not orange-red, as often given 

 (as by Mr. H. Saunders, P. Z. S., 1878, p. 165). In the dried skin the 

 red color soon changes to orange-red, and later to a yellowish-drab, as 

 in the figure of Gould's hnichyrhynchtis {I. c). There are not two species, 

 one with yellow legs and another with red ones, as supposed by Dr. 

 Finsch (1. c). 



23. Sterna camtschatica Pall. 



1826.— Sterna camtschatica Pall., Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat., II, p. 335 {nee Finsch, Abh. 

 Naturw. Ver. Bremen, III, p. 85 (1872; quaj. S. aleutica Baird).— Kittl., 

 Denkw., I, p. 322, and II, p. 200 (1858).— Taczanowski, Bull. Soc. ZooL 

 France, 1876, p. 362.— M, Orii. Faun. Vost. Sibir., p. 63 (18/7).— Ste.tneger, 

 Naturen, 1884, p. 8. 



18'^5.—Sterna loiujipcnms Nordm. in Ermanu's, Verz. Thier. Pflanz., p. 17 {nee FixsCH 

 J. f. Orn., 1867, p. 339, qute S. frontalis Gray; nee CoUES, Key, p. 321 (1872), 

 qua) S. paradisaxi Brunn.).— Middend., Sibir. Reise, II, 2 (p. 246, tab. 25, 

 fig. 4), (1853).- ScHRExVCK, Rcise Amiir-Laude, I, p. 512 (I860).— Radde,' 

 Reis. Sudeu OstrSibir., II (p. .389), (1863).— Swinhoe. P. Z. S., 1863, p. 

 329.— ScHLEGEL, Mus. Pays-Bas, Sternae, p. 23(1864).— Blasius, J. f. Orn., 

 1866, p. 80.— E. V. Homey., J. f. Orn., 1870, p. 439.-PRZEWALSKr, Putesch. 

 Ussur. Supp. (n. 223), (1870).— Hartlaub & Finsch, J. f. Orn., 1872, p. 

 112.— Taczan., J. f. Orn., 1873, p. lll.-Id., ihid., 1874, p. 337. -Irf., ibid., 



