CLASSIFIED NOTES 509 



CASPIAN-TERN [>SVtV,6 twl,c</r<ii-a Lepechin; tit<!rn<t f(in/jia Pallas. French, 

 tHch<'<jr<ii-<i ; German, Raub-Seesclitrttllir ; Italian, btccapesci magffiore^ 



1. Description. Distinguished by its large size, its conspicuously heavy red beak, and by the 

 fact that the tail is very short in proportion to the size of the bird, tho wings when closed 

 extending far beyond it. Length 20 in. [508 mm.]. The adult in nuptial plumage has 

 the top of the head and back of the neck rich glossy bluish black, lower neck white merging 

 into the light grey of the mantle, wings, and tail ; primary feathers silvery grey, shafts ivory 

 white ; the entire under parts white ; iris dark brown ; bill vermilion red, inclining to horn-colour 

 at. the tip; legs and toes black. Tho female is slightly smaller than the male. The winter 

 differs from that of the nuptial dress in that the head is beautifully streaked with black and 

 white. Young in down are covered with pale buff down inconspicuously mottled with dull 

 brown, under parts white. [\v. p. r. and T. w.'j 



2. Distribution. In the Baltic colonies exist on the coasts of Southern Finland and those 

 of Sweden south of lat. 60, and in the North Sea the famous Sylt colony still survives. In the 

 Mediterranean there are small breeding-places in Spain, Sardinia, Tunisia, and on the east coast 

 of the Adriatic. Large colonies may be met with in the Black Sea, the Dobrogea, and the 

 Sivash, as well as on the Caspian and the salt steppes adjoining. In Asia it has been found breed- 

 ing in the Persian Gulf, Ceylon, and from Transcaspia across Siberia to Amuria and Ussuri 

 Land. In Africa it is known to breed in the Gambia on the west coast and also in South 

 Africa, and from the Zambesi to the Red Sea on the east side. Australia and North America 

 are also included in the breeding range of this widely distributed species. In winter European 

 birds migrate southward to the African coasts, and Asiatic birds probably winter in Southern 

 Asia and the Malay Archipelago ; American birds range sonth along the Atlantic to the Gulf of 

 Mexico. About nineteen definite records from England, and it has strayed as far north as the 

 Fieroes. [F. c. R. .T.] 



SOOTY-TERN [Sterna ftdiyinvsa Grnelin. French, steme fuliyineuse; German, russbraune 

 Si'ftr/i voaXbe ; Italian, rondine di mure scura]. 



1. Description. Distinguished in the adult summer plumage by having the head, lores, and 

 back black, and the forehead white. Length 14'5 in. [368 mm.]. Top of the head deep black, 

 forming a cap ; mantle, back, rump, middle tail feathers, and wings sooty black ; outer tail feather 

 white, passing into black at the tip ; whole of the under parts, including the axillaries and under 

 wing-coverts, pure white. The adult'in winter differs in having the head streaked with white. 

 The juvenile dress has the under parts blackish, very indistinctly barred with dirty white, the 

 upper parts black, each feather with the base white and the tip reddish brown or whitish buff. 

 The young in down is prettily mottled with dusky-brown and white above, and the under parts 

 are whitish, [w. p. p. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. This species breeds in colonies in the tropical and sub-tropical seas. In 

 the West Atlantic it breeds on the coasts and islands of America from the Bahamas, Florida 

 (Tortugas), and various islands in the West Indies and off the coast of Venezuela and Brazil 

 (Fernando Noronha), and on the east side on Ascension and St. Helena. In the Indian Ocean 

 the chief breeding-places are Round Island (Mauritius), Diego Garcia, the Farquhar Isles, 

 Zanzibar coast, the Laccadives, Mekran coast, and Sunda group. In the Australian seas it 

 breeds on Houtman's Abrolhos and in Torres Straits (Raine and Lord Howe Isles) ; and in the 

 Pacific on the Kermadec Isles, Riu-Kiu Isles, Gilbert Isles, Phrenix Isles, Samoa, Norfolk 

 Island, Christmas Island, etc. As a straggler it has occurred as far north as the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence and Maine in North America, and France, Italy, Germany, and six times in the 

 British Isles, on the European side ; while in the Pacific it has been recorded north to the 

 Aleutian Isles and south to the Tasmanian and New Zealand Seas. [F. c. R. J.] 



VOL. iv. ST 



