58 LAKID^. 



Sterna tibetana, Saund. P. Z. S. 1876, p. 649 ; Hume, Str. Feath. v. 



p. 485 (1877: Tibet, N. of Sikkim) ; id. Str. Feath. viii. p. 158 



(1879: Tonka, Malay Pen.). 

 Sterna major, Olphe-Galliard, Contr. Faun. Orn. Fur. Occid. pt. x. 



p. 28 (1886). 

 Sterna liiruudo macroptera, Hartert, Kat. Voffelsamml. Senckenb. 



p. 239 (1891). 



Adult male in hreeding-plumage. Forehead, upper lores, crown, 

 and nape black : mantle rather dark pearl-grey ; secondaries 

 narrowly margined with white ; outer primary with a black outer 

 web, and a broad streak (0"4 in.) of very dark grey next the white 

 shaft on the inner web, the rest of the inner web white, except 

 towards the tip, where it is dark ash-grey ; inner primaries paler 

 grey, with white '• wedges " and dark grey margins to the inner 

 webs ; rump whitish ; tail-feathers white, with grey outer webs, 

 those of the streamers darkest ; chin and cheeks white ; breast and 

 beUy pale vinaceous grey ; under wing- and under tail-coverts white : 

 bill coral-red, the extreme tip horn-colour ; irides dark brown ; 

 tarsi and toes coral-red. Total length 14'25 inches, culmen 1*7, 

 wing 10-5, tail 6'5, depth of fork 3-25, tarsus 0*85, middle toe with 

 claw 0-95, 



Female. Similar to the male. 



Adidt in ivhiter plumage. Like the above, but the forehead and 

 crown streaked and mottled with white ; colours of bill and feet 

 much duller from September onwards, underparts paler. 



Immature. Like the above, but the forehead white ; a dark grey 

 band along the upper wing-coverts ; underparts distinctly white. 



Young (in August). Mantle barred and mottled with ash-brown ; 

 outer webs of tail-feathers dark grey ; band on the wing-coverts more 

 extended than in the immature bird ; otherwise similar. In fledglings 

 the upper parts are much marked with warm buff. 



Up to about the end of September the colours of the bill and 

 feet become brighter, but afterwards they rapidly go back and 

 become more or less horn-coloured. 



Nestling. Forehead and throat brown ; upper parts stone-buff, 

 spotted and streaked with black ; underparts white ; feet yellow. 



At one time I thought that birds from Tibet might be specifi- 

 cally distinguished, but the inspection of a large series has proved 

 unfavourable to this view. 



Hah. Coasts, rivers, and inland lakes of Europe and temperate 

 Asia (breeding); India, Ceylon, and South Africa in winter; tem- 

 perate North America to Texas (breeding), but scarcely known on 

 the Pacific side ; southward to Bahia, Brazil, in winter. 



a. Ad. st. Great Britain. W. Yarrell, Esq. 



[P.]. 



h. Juv. St. Great Britain. Dr. Smith [P.]. 



c. S ; d- Juv. ; Dungeness. Capt. Verner [P.]. 



e. Pull. sk. 



f-q. Ad. ; r-v. Dungeness. Capt. Verner [P.]. 



Pull. St. 



