432 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



occurrence in Ceylon. It must consequently at times be found near the 

 Burmese coast. In fact Mr. Davison states that he thinks he saw this 

 Tern in the Mergiri archipelago, and as he knows the bird well he is not 

 likely to have been mistaken. 



It has a very wide range, being found in all the intertropical seas of the 

 globe. 



This Tern is entirely oceanic. Mr. Hume discovered them breeding 

 on the Yingorla rocks off the western coast of India, and it has also been 

 found nesting in the Red Sea. 



770. STERNA FULIGINOSA. 



THE SOOTY TERN. 



Sterna fuliginosa, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 605 ; Hume, S. F. iv. p. 477 ; Saunders, 

 P. Z. S. 1876, p. 666 ; Dresser, Birds Eur. viii. p. 307, pi. ; Penrose, Ibis, 1879, 

 p. 277 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 116; Legge, Birds Ceylon, p. 1037 ; Oates, 8. F. x. 

 p. 247. Onychoprion fuliginosus, Salvad. Ucc. Born. p. 373. Haliplana 

 fuliginosa, David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 528. 



Description. Male and female. Forehead, produced back on either side 

 as a streak extending to just over the middle of the eye, white j a band 

 covering the lores and reaching back to the eye, the crown, nape and hind 

 neck black ; remainder of the head and neck and the whole lower plumage 

 pure white ; the whole upper plumage brownish sooty ; the primaries 

 tinged with grey, the shafts reddish brown ; outer tail-feathers white except 

 the terminal third, which is brown like the rest of the tail. 



The young bird of the year is sooty brown all over ; the back, rump, 

 upper tail-coverts, tail, scapulars and wing- coverts broadly tipped with 

 dull white. 



Iris deep brown ; bill, legs and feet blackish. 



Length up to 17 inches, tail 7'5, wing 11*8, tarsus '9, bill from gape 2*4, 

 fork of the tail nearly 3 inches. 



This species bears a close resemblance to the preceding ; but Mr. Howard 

 Saunders has pointed out a structural peculiarity in the foot by which the 

 two birds may be unhesitatingly identified. In S. antestheta the webbing 

 on the outer side of the middle toe reaches only to the first joint of that 

 toe ; in S. fuliginosa the webbing of the same part reaches to the root of 

 the claw. 



I shot a young specimen of this species in June on the Canal not far 

 from the mouth of the Sittang river. It has not again been observed in 

 Burmah, but it is doubtless not uncommon on the coast. 



