550 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



ilie adoption of his name upon the following grounds : " Le noni de macroura 

 ae convient point a ma St. arctica ; elle a seulement une queue un pea plus 

 longue que St. hirundo, tandisque nous avong en Europe et a I'etranger des 

 Sternes a queue tres longue, et que St. Dougalli a une queue extraordinairement 

 longue, depassant les ailes souvent de plus de deux pouces." The fact, however, 

 of there existing other Terns with tails as long or longer than the species to which 

 the name macroura was applied, would hardly be recognized by ornithologists 

 as a valid excuse for setting aside a prior designation. Temminck's descrip- 

 tion is very accurate, but the dimensions given, (" lo pouces 6 ou 8 lignes") is 

 considerably below the average. 



I regret that I have never seen the immature or winter plumage of this spe- 

 cies ; the more so, since, so far as I can discover, no description of these stages 

 has been given by any American writer. They were unknown to Temminck. 

 Degland* says that the winter plumage differs from that of summer only in the 

 })Iack of the crown being variegated with white. The same author describes the 

 young before the first moult as resembling those of S. hirundo; but being a 

 iittle smaller, the tarsus notably shorter, the bill slenderer and brown, with the 

 base and cutting edge of the mandibles yellowish red. His description in other 

 points does not differ materially from »S'. hirundo. 



Degland also speaks of the occurrence of a hybrid of this species, and the S. 

 hirundo, partaking in a varying degree of the characters of eiiher parent. 

 Though I have never met with a specimen which I could not unhesitatingly 

 refer to one or the other species, it seems not at all improbable that hybrids should 

 really occur. 



The Sterna hirundo of the authors quoted in the synonomy undoubtedly re- 

 fers to the present species. Though in the description of S. nitzschii of Kai.\Jip 

 there are some discrepancies, I follow Gray in assigning it as a synonym. I have 

 never had an opportunity of examining S. braehytarsa of Graba, but quote it 

 entirely upon the authority of Gray. 



Stehna Pikei, Lawrence. 

 Sterna Pikei, Lawr. Ann. N. Y. Lye. N. H., vi. 1853, 3. Id. Gen. Rep. Birds, 1858, 

 863. Atlas, pi. xcv. 



DiAG. — (^Adidtus, vestitu hycmali ?) S. rostro tenue, fuscescente-rubro ; fronte 

 albo griseoque variegato ; occipite nigro ; dorso alisqne griseo-coerulescenti- 

 bus ; uropygio albo; cauda valde elongata, forficattl, rectrice laterali pogonio 

 externo fusca ; corpore subtus albo; pedibus rubris. 



Habitat. — Coast of California. 



I have before me the type of Sterna Pikei, the original of Jlr. Lawrence's des- 

 criptions (1. c.) obligingly furnished by that gentleman for examination. This 

 specimen, the only one known to exist in any cabinet, is unfortunately in im- 

 mature or winter plumage, and in rather poor condition. The species is a very 

 strongly-marked one, differing widely from any other of North America, not 

 only in colors, but in form and proportions. In size it is considerably smaller 

 than S. macroura, the wing being one inch or more shorter than in the average 

 of that species; the tarsi and toes a very Utile less. The bill measures l-i2 

 inches ; it is remarkably slender, i*s heigth at base being only -25 of an inch 

 — just about equal to that of ant illarum. The color is quite undefinable in the 

 specimen before me, but, as remarked by Mr. Lawrence, is probably deep car- 

 mine in life. The whitish front, becoming more and more mixed with grayish 

 black towards the occiput, together with the plumbeous lesser wing coverts, 

 are evidently those of an immature bird, probably of its first winter. The black 

 of the occiput is quite pure, and extends on the sides of the head far enough to 

 embrace the eyes. The marking of the primaries and secondaries are preciae- 

 ly those of S'. macroura, and the color of the back and wings is much the same. 



* Oruith. Europ. 1849, ii. p. 345. 



[Dec. 



