253 



BLACK-EARED TERN. 



Thalassites melanotis, SWAINS. 



Bill red ; feet black ; plumage above cinereous ; crown and 

 ears black ; neck and under parts white. 



FROM the great curvature of the bill and the strong 

 and lengthened feet of this bird, we have been in- 

 duced to consider it the type of that form which 

 unites the Terns to the tropic birds, and in accord- 

 ance with this impression it has been arranged, in 

 our Classification of Birds, under the sub-genus 

 Thalassites. The form of the bill, except that the 

 margins are not toothed, is precisely that of Phceton y 

 while the connexion of this new group with Sterna 

 is manifestly effected by our present Sterna cristata. 

 Of the Thalassites now to be described, we have 

 only received one specimen, which, although suffi- 

 ciently perfect to determine its essential characters, is 

 obviously not an adult bird. The upper part of the 

 head is marked only with black stripes, indicating 

 that in a more advanced state of plumage this part 

 would be entirely of that colour ; the ears, indeed, and, 

 the space between the under eye-lid and the angle 

 of the mouth, have already become entirely black. 

 The white of the under plumage extends round the 



