﻿Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire. 309 



35. Sterna maxima, Bodd. 



I have two specimens of this fine Tern, one from Aruba 

 and one from Bonaire, but the bills and wings seem to be 

 shorter than in Sterna maxima proper, and the comparative 

 measurements of the bill do not quite correspond with those 

 given by Bidgway in his ' Manual/ They do not, however, 

 belong to the Pacific S. elegans, nor to Saunders's Atlantic 

 S. eurygnatha. This specialist in Laridse has seen one of my 

 specimens and admitted it to be S. maxima, but I think that 

 a larger series would be of interest, and might possibly lead 

 to the establishment of a South West-Indian subspecies of 

 S. maxima. The culmen in my specimens measures 2*25 to 

 2"36 inches, wing 133 to 13"6, tarsus 1*1. Iris brown, 

 bill orange, feet black. A male and female from Georgia 

 are similar in the form of the bill, but the latter is 0"3 inch 

 longer, and the wings measure 14*5 inches. 



This Tern is not common on these islands and is some- 

 what shy, but I saw it several times on the coasts of Aruba, 

 Curacao, and Bonaire. 



36. Sterna hirundo, Linn. 



I have seen this Tern flying about along the coasts of 

 Aruba and on Bonaire, and I believe also on Curacao, but I 

 have brought home only two skins. These agree with the 

 European Sterna hirundo (= Sterna fluviatilis of Naumann) 

 in appearance, but are much smaller and the bill somewhat 

 less pointed. In fresh specimens it seemed to me that the 

 abdomen was somewhat less greyish and of a more violet 

 tint. I also believe that the black cap does not reach quite 

 so low down on the neck. As my specimens have been com- 

 pared with a good many skins from Heligoland, England, 

 Morocco, and North America, which are larger, and as I 

 have seen one skin from Southern Mexico that was entirely 

 like my bird, I believe that it is a tropical subspecies oi the 

 Common Tern. It is also remarkable that this Tern is not 

 regularly found south of the Bahamas, and has not yet 

 been recorded further south than Jamaica. My specimens 

 measure: — Culmen 1*35 inch, wing 10'1, tail 5'4, tarsus 0'7. 



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