STERNA FULIGINOSA : SOOTY TERN 3/3 



This is another straggler, one of the four Terns of 

 casual occurrence, among the eleven species known to 

 occur in New England. It was properly given as a 

 bird of our country by Samuels and Coues, not to men- 

 tion any earlier trace there may be of its presence in 

 this country. (See Allen, Pr. Essex Inst, iv, 1864, p. 

 90 ; Coues, ibid., v, 1868, p. 309 ; Samuels, App. to Orn. 

 and Ool. of N. E., 1867, p. 583; Maynard, Nat. Guide, 

 1870, p. 157.) In 1875 it was formally expunged from 

 the list by Dr. Brewer, with the remark: "This is a 

 southern species, unknown on our coast, or that of New 

 Jersey" (Pr. Bost. Soc., xvii, 1875, p. 443) ; after which, 

 as usual in such cases, the explicit records of its pres- 

 ence began to multiply. 



" Mr. Clark informs me that he has this species in 

 his collection, mounted from a bird that last summer 

 flew against the side of the steamboat-wharf depot at 

 Saybrook, Conn. (Purdie, Bull. Nutt. Club, ii, 1877, p. 22). 



Mr. Ruthven Deane records "the capture of a fine 

 adult male on the Merrimac River, near Lawrence, 

 Mass., on October 29, 1876. I examined the specimen 

 at the store of Mr. Charles I. Goodale, taxidermist, who 

 has finely preserved it, and it is now in the possession 

 of Mr. W. A. Rowland of Lawrence " (Bull. Nutt. Club, 

 ii, 1877, p. 27). Mr. Deane also tells us of a specimen, 

 the tenth for New England, "a fine adult male, taken at 

 Newmarket, N. H., about Sept. 14, 1878, by Mr. D. C. 

 Wiggin. I am indebted to Mr. Charles I. Goodale, who 

 has preserved the specimen, for the above facts " (ibid., 

 iii, 1878, p. 195). 



Mr. Merriam adds to the New England history of 

 this bird the following facts : " A rare visitor from the 

 south. Prof. Sanborn Tenney states that a specimen 



