390 Dr. E. Ccucs on Central- American Laridse. 



sembles. It is probably, however, S. paradisea ; which opinion 

 is strengthened by the fact of there being an adult S. paradisea 

 in the collection, but no S. hirundo. 



a. Very young $, San Jose de Guatemala, December 8, 1862. 



10. Sterna forsteri, Nuttall. 



An immature bird, in pretty much the plumage figured and 

 described by Audubon under the name of S. havelli, and identical 

 with numerous examples of young S. forsteri in the Smithsonian 

 Museum. 



a. Young $, Lake of Duenas, Guatemala, October 28,1862. 



11. Sterna antillarum, Coues, ex Lesson. 



An adult example, identical with numerous North American 

 and Antillean specimens. 



a. Adult 2 , Glover's Reef, British Honduras, May 14, 1862 ; 

 and other specimens. 



In Cabanis' 'Journal fiir Ornithologie/ 1861, p. 346, Dr. 

 Gundlach has recently presented this species under the name of 

 Sterna supei'ciliaris, YieiWot ; which he considers to be the same as 

 S. antillarum, Lesson, and S. frenata, Gambel. The impropriety 

 of this identification of Vieillot's name will be, I think, quite 

 palpable from the following considerations : — Sterna superci- 

 liaris, Vieillot (Enc. Meth. p. 350), is based upon the " Hati 

 ceja blan9a " of Azara, and is consequently a South American 

 bird. Now Vieillot's description, though brief and somewhat 

 vague, unquestionably refers to some species, in immature plu- 

 mage, of the subgenus Sternula, i. e. a small species, like S. mi- 

 nuta, S. antillarum, &c.,with a white-fronted lunula. I have before 

 me a Sternule, collected at Bogota, which is exceedingly distinct 

 both from the North American S. antillarum and from the Euro- 

 pean S.minuta, and which I think is unquestionably the species re- 

 ferred to by Azara and Vieillot. It is at once to be distinguished 

 from S, minuta by the plumbeous of the mantle extending over the 

 rump and upper tail-coverts. Agreeing with S. antillarum in this 

 respect, it differs from the latter species as follows : — It is con- 

 siderably larger, the wing from the carpal joint measuring half 

 an inch more. The bill is disproportionately larger and more 

 robust, exceeding that of S. minuta by as much as, or more than. 



