324 



STERNIN.5J. 



Length. — 12 inches, wing 9'3, tail 6, bill at front r43, tarsus 1. In 

 winter the head is white with dusky streaks, the abdomen is like 

 the back and not black, and the bill tipped with dusky. 



Hah. — Throughout India, except Southern India and Ceylon. 



Sterna albigena, Llcht.; Nom. Mus. Berol. -p- 98 ; Str.FAv. 467; 



V, 298 ; Murray, Hdhh., ZooL, §■€., Bind, p. 248a. — The White- 

 cheeked Tern. 



The lores and point of the forehead white ; the latter with a few 

 black speckles; a patch in front of the eye black speckled with white; 

 the anterior half of the crown white, tinged earthy or brownish grey, 

 and with spots and blotches of brownish black. Feathers immediately 

 above the eye, all the feathers behind it, the sides of the head, occiput 

 and nape, black ; the posterior half of the crown blackish brown, 

 a little mingled with greyish white; an imperfect white band from 

 the lores beneath the eyes, with another imperfect black one below 

 it. The back of the neck is whitish, the feathers suffused with grey 

 towards the tips ; the whole of the back, scapulars, wings and tail a 

 moderately dark French grey, darker than in S. hengalensis, but not so 

 dark as in some specimens of Bergii. The upper tail-coverts slightly 

 paler ; the wings more silvery, but the Outer web of the first primary 

 and of the exterior elongated tail feather much darker ; the inner 

 webs of the priaiaries darker; the first primary with a considerable 

 portion of the inner web white to the margin ; the other primaries also, 

 with white on their inner web, but with a grey band on their margin. 

 The second and third tail feathers also a rather darker grey on their 

 outer webs towards the points ; the rest of tail feathers^ inner and outer 

 webs, pretty well concoloruus with the rump and upper tail-coverts ; 

 the chin, throat and sides of the neck almost pure white, with only a 

 few faint dusky grey patches ; the breast and abdomen a dusky bluish 

 grey, with many large patches of white ; the lower tail-coverts greyish 

 white ; the wing* lining white. 



In breeding plumage, according to Heuglin, the upper surface is a 

 full bluish grey ; the front and sides of the neck, breast and abdomen, 

 a somewliat paler and more purplish grey ; the entire upper surface of 

 head and nape intensely black ; the chin and upper part of the throat, 

 the lores, and an oblique band below the eyes, conspicuously snowy 

 white; the beak coral red, blackish towards the base of the culmen 

 and at the tips; the feet bright coral red. 



''Length. — 14'5 inches to 12'5 ; expanse 29*25 to 29*5 ; tail from vent 

 6*5 to 4-1; wing 9*9 to 9-7; tarsus 0*77 to 0*75; bill from gape 

 2*15, at front 1"55 to 1*47; irides brown; legs and feet Indian red, 

 tinged in front of tarsi and toes with blackish dusky ; bill blackish 

 with the extreme tips whitish horny .^' — 8tr. F. iv, 469. 



Occurs along both the Sind and Mekran Coasts, and in the Kurrachee 

 harbour. Mr. Hume (vol. iv. p. 4G8) in his excellent paper on the 

 birds of ''the Laccadives and the West Coast" says — "This species, 

 which he obtained there, had only hitherto been obtained on the coasts 



