24 Allen's naturalist's lii^rary. 



Sterna inacdougaUi, Macgill. Brit. B. v. p. 648 (1852). 

 {Plate XCVIL) 



Adult Male. — General colour above delicate pearly-grey, 

 slightly paler on the rump and upper tail-coverts and inner 

 secondaries, which are margined with white at the ends ; wing- 

 coverts like the back, as also the bastard-wing and primary- 

 coverts ; quills pearly-grey, the primaries edged on the inner 

 web and the secondaries on the outer web, with white ; quills 

 pearly-grey, darker on the inner webs, which have rather broad 

 borders of white ; the three outer primaries with white shafts, 

 emphasized on the first by a blackish outer w^eb, and along the 

 inner edge of the white shaft by a line of blackish, becoming 

 dark grey towards the end of the feathers ; the second and 

 third primaries with a dark grey and broader line along the 

 inner length of the shaft, but the outer web frosted with pearly- 

 grey ; all the other primaries white-shafted, with darker grey 

 on the inner web, broader but not inclining to blackish ; 

 secondaries pearly-grey, with w^hite tips and a good deal of 

 white on the inner web ; tail-feathers pearly-grey, almost white, 

 the long outer feathers nearly entirely white ; crown of head 

 and nape black, with a very distinct pointed crest ; hind-neck, 

 sides of face, and under surface of the body white, with a 

 beautiful rosy blush, which disappears in time; the line of 

 black and white on the sides of the head very sharply defined, 

 and extending across the lower half of the lores, below the 

 eye, above the ear-coverts ; " bill orange at the base, the 

 anterior part from the angle black ; tarsi and toes orange-red ; 

 by the end of May, in the northern hemisphere, the amount 

 of black on the bill has largely increased " (Saunders). Total 

 length, 137 inches; culmen, 1*45; wing, 8-8; tail, 5-9; tarsus, 

 0-85. 



Adult Female. — Similar to the male. Total length, 13-1 

 inches; wing, 8-5. 



Adult in Winter Plumag-e. — Similar to the summer plumage, 

 but differing in the forehead being spotted with white, the 

 under parts nearly white, with little pink tint ; bill nearly 

 black (Sannders). 



Young. — Differs from the adult in being mottled with a black 

 sub-terminal bar to the feathers of the upper surface, quills. 



