112 LAEID^. 



darker, the base of the lower mandible horn-colour, and a faint 

 greyish tint on the under surface. 



Hah. Cape of Good Hope to Damaraland, wandering up the 

 West Coast of Africa to the Congo. On the East side the species is 

 said to range to Mtoni and Kingani ; but even from Durban and 

 the Seychelles all the small Terns I have examined belonged to 

 S. saundersi. 



a. Ad. sk. South Africa. Shelley Coll. 



b,c. c? $ ad. sk. Walvisch Eay, Nov. (C. J. Tweeddale Coll. 

 Andersson). 



d. c? ad. sk. Walvisch Bay, Jan. ( C. J. H. Saunders Coll. 



Andersson). 



e. S ad. sk. Robben I., Cape G. Hope II. Saunders Coll. 



{E. L. Layard). 



f. Ad. sk. Eobben I., Cape G. Hope Salvin-Godman Coll. 



(E. L. L.). 



25. Sterna nereis. 



Sternula nereis, Gould, P. Z. iS. 1842, p. 140 ; id. B. Austr. vii. 



pi. :29 (1848 : Bass Straits and West Austraha) ; id. Handb. B. 



Austr. ii. p. 402 (18G.5) ; Beichetil/. Vm). JVeuholl. p. 347 (18.50); 



Layard, Ibis, 1878, p. 26-5 (New Caledonia; breeding); E. P. 



Ramsay, Tab. List Austr. B. p. 23 (1888) ; North, Nests S,- Eggs 



Austral. B. pp. 3-58, 404 (1889). 

 Sterna parva, Ellman, Zoologist, 1861, p. 7473. 

 Sterna media, J. Ii. Eurst. Descr. Anim. p. 20 (1844 : Southern 



Ocean, outside the tropic). 

 Sterna nereis, Gray, Gen. B. iii. p. G59 (1846) ; Reichenb. Natat. 



tab. xxi. tigs. 801-2 (1848) ; Pelz. Verh. zool.-bot. Gesell. Wien, 



xxii. p. 318 (1867); Finsch, J.f. O. 1870, p. .366, 1872, p. 2-5.3, 



1874, p. 205 ; Hiitton, Cat. B. N. Zeal. p. 42 (1871) ; Buller, B. 



N. Zeal. p. 28-5 (1873) ; Sharpe, Voy Erebus ^- Terror, Birds, 



App. p. 32 (1875) ; l^aunders, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 663 (revision) ; E. 



P. Ramsay, Pr. Linn. Soc. N. S. W. 1878, p. 201 ; id. op. cit. 1883, 



p. 69 (Tasmania) ; Buller, B. N. Zeal. 2nd ed. ii. p. 75 (1888) ; 



Tristr. Cat. Coll. B. p. 9 (1889) : Hartert, Kat. Vogelsamml. 



Senckenb. p. 2.38 (1891). 

 Sterna minuta, Finsch, J.f. O. 1867, pp. 337 & 347 ; Gi-ay, Hand-l. 



B. iii. p. 121, no. 11062 (1871 : partim). 

 Sterna alba, Potts, Tr. N. Z. Inst. 1870, p. 106. 

 Sternula placens, Layard {nee Gotdd), Ibis, 1881, p. 134; id. op. cit. 



1882, p. 476 & p. 540 (New Caledonia ; specimens in B.M. Coll.). 



Adult in breeding-plumage. Forehead and lores white as far as 

 the middle of the superciliary region ; a black spot in front of the 

 eye and a very narrow ring of black round the eye ; crown and nape 

 black ; mantle very pale pearl-grey ; outer primaries a shade darker, 

 the shafts white, the outer webs grey, a narrow streak of grey on 

 inside webs next the shafts and towards the tips, the rest of the 

 inner webs chiefly pearl-grey, the extreme edges white ; rump palest 

 grey ; tail-feathers white ; underparts white : bill bright yellow, 

 horn-coloured at the tip ; tarsi and toes duller yellow. Total length 

 10 inches, culmen 1'5, wing7"25, tail 4, depth of fork 2, tarsus 0"6, 



