BIBDS OP NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 487 



aa. Back, scapulars, and wings (also rump, upper tail-coverts, and six to ten middle 



rectrices) deep gray or blackish; inner webs of primaries wholly dusky. 



• b. Back, etc., deep brownish gray (quaker drab), paler and grayer toward hindneck, 



the latter white, grayish white or pale gray. (Sterna ansetheta.) 



c. Under parts distinctly tinged with gray; hindneck light gray or grayish white; 



lateral retrices extensively brownish gray distally, this involving whole 



width of outer as well as inner web. (Philippine Archipelago and China 



Sea.) Sterna ansetheta ansetheta (extralimital).o 



cc. Under parts not distinctly if at all tinged with gray (practically white); hind- 

 neck white; lateral rectrices with very little brownish gray, this on terminal 

 portion only and involving only inner portion of outer web or restricted to 

 inner web. 

 d. Larger, with stouter bill (wing 251-274, tail 147.5-188, tarsus 19-22.5, middle 

 toe 22-25 mm. 

 e. Larger, with relatively longer or more slender bill (wing 260-274, tail 163- 

 178, culmen 36-44 mm.); under parts of body faintly but distinctly tinged 

 with gray. (Pacific coast of Mexico and Central America.) 



Sterna ansetheta nelsoni (p. 514). 

 ee. Smaller, with relatively shorter or stouter bill (wing 251-2G3, tail 147-174, 

 culmen 38-41 mm.); under parts of body pure white. (Caribbean Sea, 

 Gulf of Mexico, and adjacent waters, north to Bahamas, etc.) 



Sterna ansetheta recognita (p. 512). 

 dd Smaller, with more slender bill (wing 206, tail 141, culmen 40, tarsus 18, 

 middle toe 20.5 mm.). (Indian Ocean, west to Seychelles.) 



Sterna anaetheta antarctica (extralimital).^ 

 bb. Back, etc., blackish brown or brownish black, the hindneck also blackish; 

 young with under parte sooty brown. (Onychoprion. — Sterna fuscata.) 



a Sterna anaethetus Scopoli, Del. Florae et Faunae Insubr., ii, 1786, 92 (Panay Island, 

 Philippine Archipelago); Saunders, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxv, 1896, 101, part. — 

 Melanosterna anxthetus ansethetus Mathews, Birds of Australia, ii, pt. 4, Nov. 1, 1912, 

 402. — Haliplana anxtheta Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1871, 422 (Pescadero 

 Islands, China Sea). — [Sterna] panaya Latham, Index Orn., ii, 1790, 808 (Panay, 

 Philippines). — Sterna panaya YieiWot, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., xxxii, 1819, 173. — 

 [Sterna] panayensis Gmelin, Syst. Nat., i, pt. ii, 1789, 607 (Panay Island, Philippines). — 

 Sterna panayensis Schlegel, Mus. Pays.-Bas, vi, no. 24, 1864, 26. — Sterna panayana 

 Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1870, 603 (Hakodadi, Japan. — (?) Haliplana keri 

 Boie, Isis, 1844, 190 (Japan). 



&. Sterna antarctica Lesson, Traits d' Orn., 1831, 621 (He de France= Mauritius, near 

 Madagascar, and Calcutta, India) — Melanosterna anxthetus antarctica Mathews, Birds 

 Australia, ii, pt. 4, Nov. 1, 1912,402 (Seychelles; Mauritius; Laccadive Islands). — 

 Sterna melanoptera Swainson, Birds West Africa, ii, 1837, 249 (West Africa; coll. Mus. 

 Cambridge, England). — Sterna anxiheta (not S. anaethetus Scopoli) Saunders, Cat. 

 Birds Brit. Mus., xxv, 1896, 101, part. — Sterna anxthetus Ridgway, Proc. U. S. Nat. 

 Mus., xviii, 1896, 510 (Mah6, Seychelles). — (?) Onychoprion anasthxtus Walden, 

 Ibis, 1874, 149 (South Andaman, Andaman Islands). — Sterna panaya (not of Latham) 

 Fischer and Reichenow, Journ. fixr Orn., 1878, 247 (East Africa). 



In addition to the subspecies given above, Mathews recognizes the following: 

 Sterna ansetheta novae-hollandise (Melanosterna anxthetus novx-hollandim 

 Mathews, Bii-ds of Australia, ii, pt. 4, Nov. 1, 1912, 397, 401; Australian seas). 

 Sterna ansetheta fuligula (Melanosterna anxthetus fuligula Mathe-wa, Birds of 

 Australia, ii, pt. 4, Nov. 1, 1912, 402; Red Sea). 



I have not seen specimens of either of these forms. 



