92 MANUAL OF PHILIPPINE BIRDS. 



82. STERNA FUSCATA Linnaeus. 

 SOOTY TERN. 



Sterna fuscata LINN.EUS, Syst. Nat. ed. 12 (1766), 1, 228.* 



Sterna fuliginosa SAUNDERS, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1896), 25, 106; SHABPE, 



Hand-List (1899), 1, 136; GATES, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1901), 1, 191; 



MCGREGOR and WORCESTER, Hand-List (1906), 21. 



Siquijor (Bourns & Worcester). Tropical and juxtatropical seas of the world. 



"Adult in breeding plumage. Similar to 8. ancestheta; but larger, 

 white frontal-band and superciliary stripe broader, the latter oblique and 

 not reaching beyond eye, from which it is separated by a narrow continua- 

 tion of the black loral stripe; upper surface sooty black, the wedges on 

 inner webs of primaries a trifle paler than the rest ; streamers dull white 

 on the outer webs, remaining tail-feathers sooty black ; under tail-coverts, 

 abdomen, and flanks grayish white; breast and throat white. Bill and 

 feet black with a slightly reddish tinge, the web between middle and inner 

 toe nearly full, and far less excised than in N. anmtheta. Length, about 

 430; culmen, 53, wing, 298; tail, about 190; depth of fork, 102; tarsus, 

 23; middle toe with claw, 28. 



"Adult in winter. Like the above, with white flecks on the lores and 

 crown. 



"Immature. Brownish black above, darker on the upper wing-coverts ; 

 outer tail-feathers nearly as sooty black as the rest of the rectrices, except 

 toward the tips; tarsi and toes reddish brown. 



"Nestling and young. The chick when about three days old is streaked 

 with grayish brown and dull white on the upper surface, darkest on the 

 forehead, and chiefly stone-white below; when half fledged, the feathers 

 of the mantle are blackish, with broad white tips, which gradually wear 

 down. When the bird is fully fledged these white tips are much narrower, 

 the feathers of the upper parts are sooty brown, and the under parts are 

 also somewhat paler brown, becoming lighter toward the vent. (In 

 8. ancestheta the under parts are whitish). Bill and feet reddish brown." 

 ( Saunders. ) 



83. STERNA SINENSIS Gmelin. 

 WHITE-SHAFTED TERN. 



Sterna sinensis GMELIN, Syst. Nat. (1788), 1, pt. 2, 608. SAUXDERS, Cat. 

 Birds Brit. Mus. (1896), 25, 113; SHARPE, Hand-List (1899), 1, 136; 

 GATES, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1901), 1, 192; MCGREGOR and WORCESTER, 

 Hand-List (1906), 21. 



Luzon (Whitehead) ; Mindanao (Steere Exp.) ; Mindoro (Bourns rf Wor- 

 cester) ; Palawan (Whitehead). Chinese and Indian seas to Australia. 



"Adult male in breeding plumage. Lores black from base of bill to 

 eye; forehead as far as a little beyond the top of eye white; crown and 



*Cf. Bureau, Bull. Soc. Sci. Nat. Quest France (1904), 14, 227-256. 



