144 LARIDvE. 



1. Micranous tenuirostris. 



Sterna tenuirostris, Temm. PL Col. 202 (1823 : " Seuefral '') ; Lesson, 

 Traite, p. 620 (1831 : e.v Temm.) : ScU. Miis. P.-B^, Sterure, p. 37 

 (]8()3 : Australia) : Schl. i^- Poll. Faun. Madag., Ois. p. 1-50 (1868 : 

 Reunion & Mauritius). 



Megalopterus tenuirostris, Gray, List Gen. p. 79 (1840 : e.v Temm. ; 

 nee Boie, 1826). 



Ilydrocecropis tenuirostris. Boie, Isis, 1844, p. 179 ; nee Megalopterus 

 tenuirostris, Boie, 1826. 



Anous melanops, Gould, P. Z. S. xiii. p. 103 (1845: Houtman's 

 Abrolbos) ; id. B. Ai/stralia, vii. pi. 35 (1848); Reichenb. T'or/. 

 Neuholl. ii. pp. 14, 349 (1850); Bp. C. R. xlii. p. 773 (1856); 

 Gould, Scmdb. B. Austr. ii. p. .417 (1S05) ; Gray, Hand-list B. 

 iii. p. 123, no. 11087 (1871); Masters, Pr. Linn. Soc. N. S. W. 

 1877, p. 64 (Bramble Cay). 



Anous tenuirostris, Reichenb. Natat. tab. xx. fig. 288 (1848) ; Snrtl. 

 Faun. Madagasc. p. 86 (1861) ; Saunders, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 670, 

 pi. Ixi. fig. 1 (revision) ; Hartl. Voq. Madag. p. 392 (1877) ; 

 Ramsay, Pr. Linn. Soc. N. S. W. 1877, p. 201 ; Omtal. Bidl Soc. 

 Philomath. 1878, p. 198 (Seychelles) ; Sharpe, Rep. Trans. Venus, 

 Phil. Tr. clxviii. pp. 466, 469 (1879 : Rodriguez) ; Milne-Fdwards 

 8f Grandidier, H. N. Madag., Ois. p. 665, pis. 290 a, 290 6 (1882: 

 osteology) ; E. Neioton, Tr. Noriv. Soc. iv. p. 553 (1888 : Mascarene 

 Is.) ; Ramsay, Tab. List Austr. B. p. 23, no. 705 (1888) ; North, 

 Nests ^ Eggs Amtr. B. p. 359 (1889) ; Sibree, Ibis, 1892, p. 273 

 (Madagascar) ; Wiglesw. Abh. zool. Mtis. Dresd. 1890-91, no. 6, 

 p. 211 (1892: Polynesia) ; Stone, Pr. Philad. Acad. 1894, pp. 115- 

 117 (critical). 



Anous senex, Bp. C. R. xlii. p. 773 (1856 : nee Leach). 



Micranous tenuirostris, Saunders, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, no. xxiii. 

 p. xix (Jan. 1895 ; type of genus). 



Adult 7nale in hreeding-plumage. Forehead and crown greyish 

 white, lores lavender-grey ; in front of the eye and above it a black 

 half circlet, followed by a minute white eyelid streak and then a 

 small black spot ; below the eye white ; cheeks grey ; nape pale 

 grey, darkening on the sides of the neck ; throat and chin nearly 

 black ; mantle and tail greyish or brownish groy (according to the 

 light in which the specimen is held), with an umber tint on the 

 wing-coverts and secondaries, and blackish on the primaries ; uuder- 

 parts deep sooty brown, -with a dark plumbeous tinge on the throat: 

 bill black; tarsi, toes, and their webs brown. Total length 12 

 inches, culmen 1-8, wing 8-3, tail 4-7, tarsus 0-9, middle toe with 

 claw 1-35. 



The sexes appear to be alike in plumage. 



Immature. Similar, but the colours duller and less contrasted ; 

 a dark line along the upper wing-coverts, and little plumbeous 

 grey anywhere. 



Hah. The Se3'chelles, Madagascar, the Mascarene Islands, andaeross 

 the Indian Ocean to Houtman's Abrolhos, Western Australia ; also 

 {Jide Mr. Eamsay) both sides of Torres Straits and the east side of 

 Australia down to New South Wales. Temminck's type is said to 

 have been obtained in Senegal, but no other specimen is known to 

 me from anywhere nearer that locality than the Mascarene Islands. 



