STERNA. 93 
nape black ; mandible pearl-gray ; secondaries bordered with grayish white ; 
shafts of primaries pure white in the outer, and pale gray in the upper 
ones; outer web of the outer primary and a broad line next the shaft 
on its inner web dark gray; on the succeeding primaries paler gray; 
upper portions and edges of inner webs white ; rump pearl-gray; tail and 
under parts white. Bill gamboge-yellow, tipped with black; tarsi and 
feet orange-yellow. Length, 280 when the streamers are fully developed ; 
culmen, 35; wing, 188; tail, 145; depth of fork, 86; tarsus, 16; middle 
toe with claw, 20. 
“Adult female.—Slightly smaller than the male and with less developed 
tail-streamers. 
“Adult in autumn.—Similar, with more white on the forehead, and 
shorter tail-streamers; primaries darker on their terminal portions, owing 
to the disappearance of the frosting, until the new quills appear. 
“Tmmature.—Like the above, but dull white on crown and the front 
of the lores; primaries still darker, the outer shafts always white, the 
other shafts dusky ; upper wing-coverts dark gray; tail-feathers grayish, 
and the streamers not much prolonged; bill dark brown, tarsi and toes 
ochraceous. 
“Young—Forehead buffish white, crown with black streaks which 
become confluent on nape; upper parts mottled and barred with buffish 
brown on a dull gray ground. Bill horn-color; feet ocher-yellow. When 
the bird is barely fledged the buff-color predominates on the upper 
surface.” (Saunders.) : 
“Found by us in great abundance near the center of Mindoro, where it 
was flying about over the dried beds of streams and alighting among tlie 
pebbles, its color assimilating so closely with that of the sand and small 
stones that it was well nigh impossible to see it on the ground.” (Bourns 
and Worcester MS.) 
84. STERNA MELANAUCHEN Temminck. 
BLACK-NAPED TERN, 
Sterna melanauchen TEMMINCK, Pl. Col. (1827), pl. 427; SAUNDERS, Cat. 
Birds Brit. Mus. (1896), 25, 126; SHARPE, Hand-List (1899), 1, 137; 
Oates, Cat. Birds’ Eggs (1901), 1, 195; McGrrecor and WORCESTER, 
Hand-List (1906), 21. 
Palawan (Platen); Cresta de Gallo (McGregor). Tenasserim, Malay Penin- 
sula, Nicobars, Andamans, northern Mascarene Islands, Pacific Islands, Liu Kiu 
Islands, northern Australia. 
“Adult in breeding plumage.—Forehead and crown pure white; in 
front of the eye a black triangular patch, the apex of which does not reach 
base of bill; behind the eye on each side and inclosing the nape a band 
of black, broad and prolonged in the center ; neck white; mantle and rump 
delicate pearl-gray ; shafts of all primaries white; outer primary with the 
