LARID.E THE GULLS AND TERNS. 241 



8. paradisaea. Lower parts deeper gray, almost as dark as upper parts; otherwise 

 like 8. hirundo, but lateral tail-feathers more elongated. Hal). Circumpolar 

 districts, south in winter, in America, to northern United States (breeding as far 

 south as coast of New England).] 



. Both webs of outer tail-feather entirely white, or grayish white. 

 fV. S. dougalli. Lower parts delicate "peach-blossom pink" fading to pinkish white or 

 pure white in dried skins. Hab. Atlantic coast of United States, West Indies, 

 and various parts of old world.] 



b. Upper parts slate-gray or sooty blackish, the forehead and sides of crown white ; 



six to ten middle tail-feathers slaty or blackish. (Subgenus Haliplana WAGL.) 



[8. S. fuliginosa. Upper parts sooty black. Hob. Tropical and sub-tropical coasts of 



both hemispheres, north to the South Atlantic (casually to New England) States.] 



[9. S. ansethetus. Upper parts slate-gray, fading into white on hind-neck. Hab, 



Tropical sea-coasts, north to Florida.] 



II. Wing less thnn 7.00 inches. (Subgenus Sternula EOIE.) 

 10. S. antillarum. 



SUBGENUS TH ALAS SETTS BOIE. 



Thalasseus BOIE, Isis, 1822,563. Type, Sterna caspia PALL.,=. tschegrava LEPECH. 

 Sylochelldon BEEHM, Yog. Deutschl. 1830,767. Same type. 



SUBGEN. CHAB. Largest and most powerful of the Terns. Tail much less than half as 

 long as the wing, forked for lesp than one fifth of its total length; feathers of occiput nor- 

 mal (short and blended, not forming a crest) ; depth of bill at base equal to nearly one third 

 the exposed culmen; inner webs of primaries unicolored (plain gray or slaty). 



Sterna tschegiava Lepechin. 



CASPIAN TERN. 



Popular synomym. Gannet (coast Virginia). 



Sterna tschegrava LEPECH. Nov. Comm. Petrop. xiv, 1770, 500, pi. 13, fig. 2. A. O. U. Check 



List, 1886, No. 64. RIDGW. Man. N. Am. B. 1887. 39. 

 Sterna caspia PALL. Nov. Comm. Petrop. xiv, 1770, 582. GMEL. S. N. i, pt.ii, 1788, 603. LAWB. 



in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858, 859. BAIBD, Cat. N. Am. B. 1858, No. 682. COUES, Key, 1872, 



319; Check List, No. 591 ; 2d ed. 1882, No. 793. BIDGW. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, No. 680.- 



B. B. & R. Water B. N. Am. ii, 1884. 280. 

 Thalasseus caspius BOIE, Isis, 1822, 563. COUES, Proc. Acad. Nat Sci. Phila. 1862, 537. 



ELLIOT, Illustr. Am. B. pi. 56. 



Sterna (Thalasseus) caspia COUES, B. N. W. 1874, 667. 

 Sterna caspica SPABKM. Mus. Carls, iii, 1788, pi. 62. 

 Sterna megarhynchos METEB, Tasch. Deutsch. Yog. ii, 1810, 457. 

 Sylochelidon strenuus GOULD. P. Z. S. 1816, 21; B. Austr. vii. 1848. pi. 22 (Australia). 

 Thalassites melanotis Sw. B. W. Afr. 1837,253 (type in Cambridge Mus.; examined by H. S.). 

 Sylochelidon balthica et schilUngii BBEHM, Yog. Deutschl. 1831. 769, 770. 

 Sterna major ELLMAN, Zool. 1861, 7472. 

 Thalasseus imperator COUES, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1862,538 (text; Labrador). 



Sterna caspia, var. imperator BIDGW. Ann. Lye. N. Y. x, 1874, 391. 

 Sterna regia (nee GAMB.) BIDGW. Orn. 40th Par. 1877, 639 (Humboldt Lake, Nevada). 



HAB. Palsearctic Region. North America in general, but very irregularly distributed; 

 breeding in Labrador, along the Arctic coast, on islands in Lake Michigan and along coast 

 of Virginia and Texas 1 Humboldt Marshes, Nevada, numerous; coast of California; Aus- 

 tralia. 



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