AVES LARID^. 1 87 



tail much darker than in the adult, especially toward the extremities of the 

 feathers. The bill, tarsi and feet are dull brownish yellow. 



Geographical Range. — America ; Atlantic coast, breeding from the 

 Capes of the Delaware south to the West Indies and ranging as far north 

 as the New England States ; also to the larger inland waters of the United 

 States during the warmer months. 



On the Pacific coast the birds range from California southward to Peru. 

 During the winter months they are distributed on the Atlantic from the 

 Carolinas southward ; and at this season they are also found on the 

 African Coast from the Straits of Gibraltar south to Angola. They have 

 been recorded from Northern and Central Patagonia. (Burm. t. c. ante, 

 p. 248.) 



The Royal Tern was not obtained by the Princeton Expeditions to Pat- 

 agonia. The descriptions are based on the individuals cited, together 

 with the large series in the Princeton Museum, and on material in the 

 British Museum of Natural History. 



The breeding habits of the Royal Tern do not differ from its congeners 

 of terrestrial habit. At Cobbs Island, on the coast of Virginia, during the 

 season of 1881, these birds were abundant and bred in great numbers. 

 The eggs were laid in depressions in the bare sand and were often near 

 together, the adult birds being eminently gregarious. 



Sterna superciliaris Vieillot. 



Hati ceja blanca, Azara, Apunt. III. p. 377 (1802). 



Haft manchado, Azara, tom cit. p. 377. 



Sterna superciliaris, Vieill. N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. XXXII. p. 126 (1819: 



ex Azara); Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1871, p. 571; iid. Nomencl. Av. 



Neotr. p. 147 (1873); Saunders, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 662; Durnf Ibis, 



1876, p. 165 (Montevideo, May), 1877, p. 201 (Baradero, April); 



White, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 628 (Missiones); Scl. & Huds. Argent. 



Orn. II. p. 197 (1889); Saunders, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus. XXV. p. 124 



(1896); Sharpe, Hand-Lists Bds. I. p. 137 (1899); Oates, Cat. Bds. 



Eggs, Brit. Mus. p. 195 (190 1). 



