STERNA. 725 



Head and nape black ; neck behind black ; scapulars, tertials and wing 

 coverts light grey ; lores, sides of the face, ear coverts, chin and throat white ; 

 neck in front and breast pearly grey ; abdomen, vent and under tail coverts 

 brownish black. 



Bill orange yellow; irides brown ; legs vermilion red. 



Length. 12 inches; wing 9*3 ; tail 6; bill at front 1*43 ; tarsus I. In winter 

 the head is white with dusky streaks, the abdomen is like the back and not 

 black, and the bill tipped with dusky. 



Hab. Throughout India, Burmah and Ceylon. Spread throughout the 

 Burmese and Indo-Burmese Countries. Affects inland waters, ponds, marshes 

 and rivers. Breeds all over the Empire, in company with the preceding and 

 in similar situations. Eggs also very similar, but smaller, from ri8 to 1*5 

 X 0*95 to i'O2 inches. 



1435. Sterna DoUgalli, Mont., Did. Orn. Suppl. Saunders, P. 

 Z. S. 1876, p. 652 ; Dresser, B. Eur. viii. p. 273, pi. ; Legge, Sir. F. iii. 

 p. 376 ; id., Birds Ceylon, p. 1033. Sterna paradisea, Kej s and Bias. Wirb. 

 Eur. p. 247. Sterna gracilis, Gould, P. Z. S. 1847, p. 222; id., B. Austr. 

 vii. pi. 27. Sterna korustes, Hume, Sir. F. ii. p. 318. The ROSEATE 

 TERN. 



In summer the crown and nape are deep glossy black ; back and upper 

 surface of the wings delicate, light french grey ; rump and upper tail coverts 

 white, washed with grey ; rest of the plumage pure white, except that the under 

 surface of the body is tinged with a delicate light rose colour ; first primary 

 with the outer web black, the rest with the outer webs hoary grey ; inner webs 

 of the primaries dark grey, broadly margined to the tip of the feather with 

 white ; bill red at the base, otherwise black ; iris dark brown ; legs reddish 

 orange. 



In winter the forehead and cheeks are white ; crown and nape brownish 

 black, slightly marked with white ; lesser wing coverts along the edge brown- 

 ish ; no trace of rose colour on the under parts, otherwise as in the summer 

 plumage. (Dresser.) Legs and feet bright vermilion red ; claws black ; 

 irides deep brown ; bill black ; gape and base of lower mandible varied from 

 reddish fleshy to vermilion red. (Davison.) 



Length. 14-5 to 15 inches; tail 7 to 7-5 ; wing 8-5 ; to 87 ; tarsus 07; bill 

 from gape 2'O; fork of tail about 4. 



Hal. Tenasserim, off the mouth of the Loynah Creek, also the Bassein 

 estuary. It has a wide range, being found in Europe, Africa and America, 

 and is met with in various parts of India, Ceylon and the Andaman Islands, 

 extending down to Australia. Frequents only the sea-coasts. Breeds on 

 isolated sandbanks. In Ceylon, Mr. Parker found a colony nesting in June 



