402 LARIDAG 
Sooty Tern, and this was subsequently confirmed by Mr. 
T. Southwell. The bird, an adult, was in good plumage, 
and has been well preserved. When picked up it was in 
a very emaciated condition and had evidently died from 
exhaustion. 
DESCRIPTIYE CHARACTERS. 
PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial.—Forehead, eye-stripe, 
sides and front of neck, breast, and abdomen, white; top of 
head and back of neck, deep black; on either side between 
the eye and the base of the beak is a black stripe; back, 
scapulars, and wings, sooty-black; two outer tail-feathers, 
which are longer than the rest, margined with white on 
their outer webs. 
Adult female nuptial.—Similar to the male plumage. 
Adult winter, male and female——Resembles the nuptial 
plumage, but the top and sides of the head are flecked with 
white. 
Immature, male and female.—Throat, breast, and abdo- 
men, sooty-brown; back and wings, darker, with white tips 
to all the feathers except the primaries. 
Brak. Black. 
Fret. Black. 
IrtpEs. Deep reddish-brown. 
Eaes. ‘* Pinkish-cream or bluish-white, with an endless 
variety of lavender and chestnut-red blotches ; the shell being 
smooth, whereas in the egg of the Noddy—a bird often 
found breeding in the same localities—the surface is of a 
rough chalky nature”’ (Saunders). One egg constitutes the 
clutch. 
AVERAGE MEASUREMENTS. 
TOTAL LENGTH ... zk oeag gil Vi? ware 
WING ne Mas a soe PIE ee 
BEAK rc ae eae ta Sekine 
TARSO-METATARSUS *. cae OO ae 
Kae ae ae aoe we, 28 abate 
Allied Species and Representative Forms.—A specimen 
of the Smaller Sooty Tern (S. anestheta), an inter-tropical 
species, supposed to have been taken on one of the lightships 
at the mouth of the Thames in September, 1875, has 
