Hydrochelidon nigra, Oray [nee Linn.'], List Anseres in Brit. Mus. 

 p. 180 (18-44) ; id. Gen. ^.iii. p. 6G0 (1846) ; Blyt?i, Cat.B. Mtis. As. 

 Soc. p. 291 (1849) ; Bp. C. R. xlii. p. 773 (1856) : Jaub. et Barth.- 

 Lapomm. Rich. Orn. MicUFr. p. 398 & fig. (1859) ; A. E. Brehm, 

 Reis. Hahesch, p. 229 (1863) ; Gray, Cat. Brit. B. p. 243 (1863) ; 

 Sivinh. P. Z. S. 1863, p. 328, and Ibis, 1863, p. 97 (China) ; Jerd. B. 

 India, iii. p. 875, App. (1864) ; Antin. Cat. descr. Ucc. p. 115 (1864 : 

 Nile to 8° N. lat.) ; Blasim, J.f. O. 1866, p. 82 ; Degl. 8,- Gerbe, Orn. 

 Eur. ii. p. 466 (1867) ; Loche, E.vpl. So. Algh:, Ois. ii. p. 207 (1867) ; 

 Salvad. Faun. Ital., Ucc. p. 284 (1871) ; Swink. P. Z. S. 1871, 

 p. 421 ; Gray, Hand-list B. iii. p. 121 (1871) ; Shelley, B. Egypt, 

 p. 301 (1872) ; Gurney , Andersson^ s B. Damara-land, p. 363 (1872); 

 Heugl. Om. N.O.-Afr. Bd. ii. pt. 2, p. 1447 (1873) ; Coues, B. N.- 

 West, p. 708 (1874) ; Salvad. Ucc. Born. p. 372 (1874) ; Tf^alden, 

 Tr. Z. S. viii. p. 103 (1874 : Celebes) ; Dresser, Ibis, 1876, p. 416 

 (Turkestan) ; Prjev. in Roioley's Orn. Misc. iii. p. 145 (1878: 

 breeding on Tsaidemin Lake and basin of Lake Hanka) ; Finsch, 

 Verh. z.-b. Ges. Wien, xxix. p. 280 (1879 : Chinese Altai, 5000 

 feet elevation) ; Bolau, J. f. O. 1882, p. 342 (Daiii-ia) ; Menzbier, 

 Bull. Soc. Mosc. Iviii. p. 136 (1883 : Volga to Oka) ; W. Blasius, 

 Verh. z.-b. Ges. Wien, xxxiii. p. 73 (1883 : S.E. Borneo) ; Shelley, 

 Ibis, 1888, p. 306 (Lamu, E. Africa); TV. Blasius, Ornis, 1888, 

 p. 633 (Gt. Sanghir I.) ; Vorderm. Nat. Tijdschr. Nederl. Ind. 

 Ii. p. 413 (1892: Java). 



Hydrochelidon subleucoptera, Brehm, Naum. 1855, p. 295 ; id. 

 VogeJfang, p. 350 (1855). 



Hydrochelidon javanica (nee Horsjield), Swinhoe, Ibis, 1860, p. 68; 

 id. op. cit. 1861, p. 345 (North China). 



Sterna nigra, Schlegel, Mus. P.-B., Stemse, p. 31 (1863) ; Holdstv. 

 P. Z. S. 1872, p. 481 (Ceylon) ; Legge, J. A. S. B. 1874, p. 58 

 (Cevlon) ; id. Str. Feath. iii. p. 376; Blanford, East. Pers. ii. 

 p. 294 (1876) ; Bias. u. Nehrkorn, Verh. z.-b. Ges. Wien, 1882, p. 432 

 (Amboina : cf. Ibis, 1883, p. 212). 



Hydrochelidon niger, Severtzoff, Turkest. Jevotnie, p. 70 (1873 : up 

 to 1000 ft.). 



Hydrochelidon hybridus, Tacz. J.f. O. 1873, p. Ill, and 1874, p. 337 

 "(Daiiria : cf. Bull. Soc. Zool. Fr. 1876, p. 262). 



Adult male in breeding-plumage. Head, neck, and upper back dark 

 glossy black ; coverts on the carpal joint pure white ; greater wing- 

 coverts pearl-grey ; secondaries darker, passing into slate-grey ; 

 primaries frosted with pearl-grey, which soon wears off the outer 

 quills, leaving the webs sooty black, with a well-defined narrow 

 whitish streak down the middle of the inner webs of the four outer 

 primaries ; shafts white ; back and rump greyish black ; upper tail- 

 coverts and tail pure white ; underparts deep black ; vent white ; 

 flanks, under wing-coverts, and axillaries black : bill livid red ; feet 

 oraugc-red ; webs of toes much indented. Total length 9-3 inches, 

 culmen 1-1, wing 8-2, tail 3-1, tarsus 0-75, middle toe with claw 1. 



Adult female. Similar to the male. 



Adult in autumn and. winter plumage. In the latter part of July, 

 when the moult begins (in Europe), the bird is curiously parti- 

 coloured, the new feathers of the head, neck, and underparts being 

 white and those of the back grey (paler than in Hydrochelidon nigra). 

 See specimen from Valencia, East Spain, July 25th. Later, the 



