196 A HAND -LIST OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



in America, the Malayan Archipelago, the China Seas and Australia, 

 and (according to Zarudny and Loudon) in Persian Baluchistan. 



STERNA •FUL-iGINOSA: TO 3C ^TA ^ 



fu-scoAo. L. 

 422. Sterna fuligino ca G at.— THE SOOTY TERN. 



/ Sterna fuscata Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. xii, i, p. 228 (1766 — Dominica. 



Ex Brisson). 



Sterna fuliginosa Gmelin, Syst. Nat., i, ii, p. 605 (1789 — " Habitat in 



mari atlantico, ainericano, indico, australi." Selected typical locality : 



New York, type in Mus. Lever., fide Latham). 



Sterna fuliginosa Gmelin, Yarrell, iii, p. 562 ; Samiders, p. 653. 



Distribution. — Eiigland. — Six. Tutbury near Burton -on-Tren 

 (Staffs.), Oct., 1852. Near Wallingford (Berks.), June 21, 1869 

 Near Bath (Somerset), Oct. 4 or 5, 1885 (Saunders, p. 653). Near 

 Brandon (Suffolk), Mar. or April, 1900 (W. G. Clarke, Zool, 1903, 

 p. 393; Brit. B., 11, p. 308). Hulme, near Manchester (Lanes.), 

 Oct. 9, 1901 (Saunders, Bull. B.O.C., xii, p. 26 ; Brit. B., 11, p. 308). 

 Brighton (Sussex), April 24, 1911 (A. F. Griffith, Bull. B.O.C., 

 XXVII, p. 95 ; Brit. B., v, p. 81). 



Distribution. — Abroad. — Tropical and sub-tropical seas, but almost 

 unknown on Pacific coast of South America. Wanders occasionally 

 northwards as far as Maine in North America, the Azores, and 

 Europe ; once Germany, once France, once Italy. 



[Sterna anaestheta Scop.— THE LESSER SOOTY TERN. 



Sterna anjethetus (evidently misprint for ancestheta) Scopoli, Del. 



Faun, et Flor. Insubr., i, p. 92 (1786 — Ex Sonnerat : Island of Panay, 



Philippines). 



Sterna ancestheta Scopoli, Yarrell, iii, p. 565 (in text) ; Samiders, p. 654 



(in text). 



Distribution. — England. — One alleged ta;ken on a lightship, mouth 

 of Thames, Sept., 1875, "but the evidence is slightly imperfect" 

 (Saunders, p. 654). 



Distribution. — Abroad. — Tropical and intertropical seas, but 

 possibly separable into various races. Nearest breeding-places to 

 British Isles are apparently those in Bahamas and West Indies, 

 or on the coasts of west Africa.] 



[Note. — Two specimens of the Noddy Tern, Anous stolidus stolidus (L.) 

 (Sterna stolida Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. x, i, p. 137 (1758 — In the " American 

 Sea " : West Indian seas meant) ) alleged to have been shot between Tuskar 

 Rock and Dublin about 1830, were brought in skinned by the captain of a 

 vessel, and the evidence is not considered sufficient by R. J. Ussher (c/. List 

 Irish Birds, p. 48 ; Brit. B., 11, p. 248). Another, alleged to have been shot 

 on the Dee Marshes, is not authentic (Birds Cheshire, p. 229 ; c/. Yarrell, iii, 

 p. 567 ; Saunders, p. 655). Anous stolidus stolidus appears to be distributed 

 throughout the Atlantic from Florida Keys and coast of Louisiana to 



