THE WHISKERED TERN. 119 



and with a black margin on the outer web ; the next primary the same, 

 but with no black margin on the outer web ; the other primaries with a 

 gradually diminishing amount of white and an increasing quantity of 

 black, and the white turning to ashy on the later primaries. 



In winter the head becomes white and there is a dusky patch behind the 

 ear-coverts. 



Bill, edges of eyelids and legs deep carmine ; iris deep brown. 

 (Dresser.) 



Length about 15 inches, tail 5, wing 12 to 13, tarsus 1-8, bill at 

 front 1-8. 



The Laughing Gull, according to Dr. Jerdon, occurs in the Bay of 

 Bengal and at the mouths of the Ganges and the Hooghley. It must 

 consequently at times be found on or near the Burmese coast. 



It is met with over a great portion of Asia, Africa and Europe, and it is 

 a very well-known species in Great Britain. 



Subfamily STERNIN^E. 



Genus HYDROCHELIDON, oie. 



758. HYDROCHELIDON HYBRIDA. 



THE WHISKERED TERN. 



Sterna hybrida, Pall. Zooyr. Ross.-Asiat. ii. p. 338 ; Oates, S. F. iii. p. 348. Sterna 

 javanica, Horxf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 198. Viralva indica, Steph. in Shaw's 

 Gen. Zvol. xiii. i. p. 169. Hydrochelidon indica, Jerd. B. 2nd. ii. p. 837 j Hume, 

 Nests and Eggs, p. 648 ; Hume $ Renders. Lah. to York. p. 301 ; SI. B. 

 Burm. p. 163. Sterna innotata, Seavan, Ibis, 1868, p. 404. Hydrochelidon 

 hybrida, Salvad. Ucc. Bom. p. 372 ; Saunders, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 640; Dresser, 

 Birds Eur. viii. p. 315, pi. ; David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 624 ; Hume, S. F. 

 iv. p. 224; Anders. Yunnan Exped. p. 694; Hume Sf Dav. S. F. vi. p. 491; 

 Hume, S. F. vii. p. 445, viii. p. 115; Legge, Birds Ceylon, p. 996; Oates, S. F. 

 x. p. 246. 



Description. Summer plumage. Forehead, crown, nape and upper part 

 of the hind neck black ; a broad band from the bill, passing under the eye 

 and down the sides of the neck, white; chin, throat and fore neck, com- 

 prising the whole space between the white bands, delicate pale grey, ('uvpru- 

 ing on the breast and gradually turning to blackish brown on the abdomen 

 and sides of the body ; under tail- and wing-coverts white ; upper 



2E 2 



