Descriptions of New Species of Birds. 8 



appearance and habits it was somewhat like the Virginia Par- 

 tridge, but the note or call was quite distinct. 



Sterna Pikei. 



Slender Billed Tern. 



Hind part of the crown, occiput, and sides of the head includ- 

 ing the eyes, black; front and loral space white, minutely 

 speckled with blackish -grey ; dorsal plumage and wings bluish- 

 pearl color ; the upper edge of the wing, white ; smaller wing 

 coverts dark plumbeous ; outer web of the first primary brown- 

 ish-black, a dusky line runs the whole length of the inner web 

 next the shaft, inner edge, white ; the other primaries are dark 

 bluish-grey on the outer webs, at the end and on the inner 

 webs next the shaft, with the inner margins white ; inner webs 

 and tips of secondaries, white ; upper tail coverts white ; outer 

 webs of the long lateral tail feathers, greyish-black, with their 

 ends white, inner webs white, with a dusky space near the 

 tips; the two central feathers, greyish, but white along the 

 shafts ; all the other tail feathers white on the inner webs, and 

 greyish on the outer ; throat, neck all round, and entire under 

 surface, white ; the bill is probably deep crimson in the living 

 bird, in the specimen it appears dark brown, tinged with deep 

 red, at the edges and on the inside; tarsi and feet appear to 

 have been orange ; the tibia feathered nearly to the joint. 



Total length of skin, 13 inches; alar extent, 231 inches; wing 

 from flexure, 9 inches ; tail to end of longest feather, 5i inches; 

 tail to centre of fork, 3 inches ; bill along the ridge, 1£ inch ; 

 tarsus, h inch ; middle toe and claw, \f inch ; hind toe and 

 claw, i inch. 



Bill slender, tarsi remarkably short, feet small. 



It was obtained near the coast of California, in the vicinity of 

 Monterey. 



From the cabinet of Nicolas Pike, Esq., of Brooklyn, L. I., a 



