STERNA. 93 



nape black ; mandible pearl-gray ; secondaries bordered with grayish white ; 

 shafts of primaries pure white in the outer, and pale gray in the upper 

 ones; outer web of the outer primary and a broad line next the shaft 

 on its inner web dark gray; on the succeeding primaries paler gray; 

 upper portions and edges of inner webs white ; rump pearl-gray ; tail and 

 under parts white. Bill gamboge-yellow, tipped with black; tarsi and 

 feet orange-yellow. Length, 280 when the streamers are fully developed ; 

 culmen, 35; wing, 188; tail, 145; depth of fork, 86; tarsus, 16; middle 

 toe with claw, 20. 



"Adult female. Slightly smaller than the male and with less developed 

 tail-streamers. 



"Adult in autumn. Similar, with more white on the forehead, and 

 shorter tail-streamers ; primaries darker on their terminal portions, owing 

 to the disappearance of the frosting, until the new quills appear. 



"Immature. Like the above, but dull white on crown and the front 

 of the lores; primaries still darker, the outer shafts always white, the 

 other shafts dusky; upper wing-coverts dark gray; tail-feathers grayish, 

 ancl the streamers not much prolonged; bill dark brown, tarsi and toes 

 ochraceous. 



"Young. Forehead buffish white, crown with black streaks which 

 become' confluent on nape; upper parts mottled and barred with buffish 

 brown on a dull gray ground. Bill horn-color; feet ocher-yellow. When 

 the bird is barely fledged the buff-color predominates on the upper 

 surface." ( Saunders. ) 



"Found by us in great abundance near the center of Mindoro, where it 

 was flying about over the dried beds of streams and alighting among the 

 pebbles, its color assimilating so closely with that of the sand and small 

 stones that it was well nigh impossible to see it on the ground." (Bourns 

 and Worcester MS.) 



84. STERNA MELANAUCHEN Temminck. 



BLACK-NAPED TERN. 



Sterna melanauchcn TEMMINCK, PI. Col. (1827), pi. 427; SAUNDERS, Cat. 

 Birds Brit, Mus. (1896), 25, 126; SHARPE, Hand-List (1899), 1, 137; 

 GATES, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1901), 1, 195; MCGREGOR and WORCESTER, 

 Hand-List (1906), 21. 



Palawan (Platen); Cresta de Gallo (McGregor). Tenasserim, Malay Penin- 

 sula, Nicobars, Andamans, northern Mascarene Islands, Pacific Islands, Liu Kiu 

 Islands, northern Australia. 



"Adult in breeding plumage. Forehead and crown pure white; in 

 front of the eye a black triangular patch, the apex of which does not reach 

 base of bill; behind the eye on each side and inclosing the nape a band 

 of black, broad and prolonged in the center ; neck white ; mantle and rump 

 delicate pearl-gray ; shafts of all primaries white ; outer primary with the 



