62 OCEAN BIRDS. 



iricles reddish-brown ; forehead, at the top of the head, and the nape of the neck rich 

 bhick, the feathers of that colour on the occiput elongated ; lower part of the neck all 

 round white ; the back and all the upper surface of the body, the wings, and tail-feathers 

 ash-grey ; the first six wing-primaries of a much darker grey, a slate-grey, with white 

 shafts ; the tail but slightly forked ; the chin, throat, breast, and all the under surface 

 of the body pure white ; legs, toes, their membranes, and the claws black, the latter 

 strong and curved. The whole length of the specimen described, from the point of the 

 beak to the end of the long feathers of the tail, nineteen inches ; some specimens 

 measure twenty to twenty-one inches. Adult birds in winter have the head white." 

 Seebohm says the forehead keeps the same dark colour both summer and winter. 



The Allied Tern (Sterna affinis), called by Gould the "Indian Tern," is a big edition of 

 the Sandwich Tern with a yellow bill. Bree says it is the only European Tern that is not 

 a visitant to Great Britain. Mr. Howard Saunders, calling it S. media, says: — "It ranges 

 from the Straits of Gibraltar, along the Mediterranean, down the Red Sea to Madagascar ; 

 and eastwards along the Indian coast and islands, throughout the Malay Archipelago, the 

 Aru Islands, down to Torres Straits and Port Essington." He says it can always be 

 distinguished by its pearl-grey rump and tail. The bird is thus described by Bree in 

 'Birds of Europe' (vol. v. p. 56): — "Male and female in breeding plumage have the 

 forehead, vertex, and occiput of a deep black ; nape silvery white ; top of the body bluish 

 ash, like the Sandwich Tern ; lower part of the body, front and sides of the neck, and 

 cheeks of a silvery white ; wing-coverts like the back ; primaries of a velvety ash, 

 bordered on their inner webs with white; tail bluish ash, darker than the wing-coverts, 

 with the most lateral quill on each side of a velvety ash ; beak yellow and slightly 

 ' Gull-billed ' ; feet black." 



The Bass's Straits Tern (Sterna poliocerca) is another large yellow-billed Tern, closely 

 ahied to the last. Gould gives its total length, 17i- inches ; bill, 2f ; wing, 12J ; tail, 7 ; 

 tarsi, 1. Mr. Howard Saunders, describing it under the name of S. bergii, says: — "The 

 distinguishing character of the Large Sea Tern is the white band of feathers across the base 

 of the bill. In the adult plumage, and even in winter plumage, there is no other species 

 of its size in which the mantle and tail are of so dark a grey." On the Australian 

 voyage this bird might be met with anywhere near laud south of the line, right round 

 the Cape of Good Hope, to Australia. It is thus described by Gould, 'Birds of Australia' 

 (vol. ii. p. 396): — "Crown of the head and occipital crest jet-black; forehead, back of the 

 neck, and all the under surface silky white ; back, wings, and tail grey ; secondaries 



