STERNA FDLIGINOSA 357 



marks and dark brown surface-spots, and occasionally blackish streaks. 

 Average measurements 50 x 35 mm. 



STERNA FULIGINOSA, Gmelin. 

 SOOTY TEEN. 



Sterna fuliginosa, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 605 (1788) ; Saunders, Cat. 

 Bii'ds Brit. Mus. xxv, p. 106. 



Description. — Adult male, from Island of Ascension. 



Upper parts, with the exception of the forehead, black, the crown and 

 nape darker and more glossy, the other parts with a brownish tinge ; tail 

 black, except the outermost feather on each side, which is white, with the 

 terminal portion of the inner web dark grey ; forehead, sides of head and 

 neck, and entire under parts white. 



Iris brown ; bill and feet black. 



Total length 16 inches, wing 11-50, culmen 2, tarsus 1. 



Adult female similar to the male. 



The Sooty Tern appears to have been met with occasionally on 

 the south coast of Tunisia, but is probably of rare and merely acci- 

 dental occurrence in the Eegency. 



Mr. Paul W. H. Spatz kindly informs me that he obtained an 

 example of the species on June 30th, 1894, at the southern extremity 

 of the small Island of Djerba. This specimen, a female, is now 

 preserved in Dr. Koenig's fine collection of Tunisian birds at Bonn. 



M. Blanc also informs me that he met with two or three individuals 

 of this Tern some fifteen or sixteen years ago in the same locality 

 on the Island of Djerba, but considers the species very rare in the 

 Regency. 



So far as I am aware, there is no record of the occurrence of 

 S. fuliginosa on the coasts of Algeria or Marocco, and the species is 

 an extremely rare wanderer to Europe. It is recorded as having 

 occurred three or four times in the British Islands, once in France, 

 once in Germany, and once in Italy. 



In Africa the Sooty Tern is to be met with on both the east and 

 west coasts, and is abundant in some parts, especially on the Island of 

 Ascension, where it is to be found breeding in countless thousands. 

 It appears to occur in the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, eastwards as far 



