724 LARID/E. 



Entire plumage white ; the back, wings and tail tinged with grey ; outer web 

 of first primary dark grey ; a black band from the lores, through the eye, and 

 continued behind so as to form a large triangular patch on the back of the 

 neck. Bill black, the extreme tips yellowish ; legs black ; irides brown. 



Length. 14 to 14*5 inches; tail 6; wing 86; tarsus 0*7; bill from gape 

 2-1 ; fork of tail 3*5. 



Hab. Tenasserim, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In the two latter 

 places it breeds from May to August. Eggs, two in number, laid in a depression 

 in a rock. Colour similar to those of the other members of the group, clouded, 

 spotted and blotched with pale purple or dusky lilac. Size 1*41 to 1*65 x 

 ro6 to T2. 



1433. Sterna seena, Syltes, P.z. S. 1832, p. 171; Hume, Nests 



and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 650; id., Str. F. iii. p. 193 ; Saunders, P. Z. S. 1876, 

 p. 645; Anders., Yunnan, Exped. p. 693; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 116; 

 gg e y Ceylon, p. 1003 ; Oates, B. Br. Burm. ii. p. 423 ; Murray, Vert. 

 Zool., Sind, p. 323. Sterna aurantia, Gray and Hardw. t III. Ind. Zool. i. 

 pi. 69, fig. 2. Seena aurantia, Jerd., B. Ind. ii. p. 838; Blyth, B. Burm. 

 p. 163; War -dlaw- Ramsay, Ibis, 1877, p. 472; Oates, Str. F. v. p. 169. The 

 INDIAN~RIVER TERN. 



Forehead, crown, nape and back of the neck, also circle enclosing the eye, 

 glossy black; sides of the face, chin and throat white; breast and abdomen 

 pearly greyish white ; under tail coverts white ; tail pale grey, the external 

 feathers white ; back, secondaries, tertiaries and wing coverts pale or ashy grey ; 

 primaries hoary or silvery grey, the inner webs of the first three light brown, 

 edged with dusky; under wing coverts white; upper tail coverts like the back. 

 In winter plumage the head is white, except a circle of black or dusky round 

 the eye and on the ear coverts. Bill bright yellow, tipped dusky ; irides brown ; 

 legs and feet red. 



Length. 15*0 to 16*3 inches; wing iro to ii'S ; bill at front 1*5; tarsus 

 0*56 to ro; tail 7-0 to 7-5 



Hab. Throughout India, Burmah and Ceylon, also in Beloochistan and 

 Persia. A permanent resident in Sind; affects the river and lakes, also jheels. 

 In Sind it breeds in June and July ; March and April in Tenasserim, depositing 

 three eggs in a slight depression in the sand. Considerable numbers breed 

 together. Eggs, various shades of buff, streaked, blotched and spotted with 

 brown. Size 1-5 to 1*75 inch x 1-17 to 1*32. 



1434. Sterna melanogastra, Temm., Pi. Col. p. 434 ; Saivati, Ucc. 



Born. p. 377 ; Saunders, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 645 ; Hume and Dav.> Str. F. vi. 

 p. 492; Legge, Birds, Ceylon,^. I0o6; Oates, B. Br. Burm. ii. p. 424. Sterna 

 javanica, Horsf., ZooL Res. in Java, Gen. Cat. ; Jerd., B. Ind. iii. p. 840 ; 

 Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 652; Murray, Vert. ZooL, Sind, p. 323. The 

 BLACK-BELLIED TERN. 



