CHECK LIST OF NOETH AMERICAN BIRDS. 123 



793. Sterna caspia Pall. B 682. c 561. R 680. 



Caspian Tern. 



794. Sterna maxima Bodd. B 683. c 562. R 681. 



Cayenne Tern ; Royal Tern. 



795. Sterna elegans Gamb. B 684. c 563. R 682. 



Elegant Tern. 



796. Sterna cantiaca Gm. B 685. c 564. R 683. 



Sandwich Tern. 



797. Sterna hirundo L. B 689. c 565. R 686. 



Common Tern or Sea Swallow. 



798. Sterna forsteri Nutt. B 686, 691. c 566. R 685. 



Forster's Tern. 



799. Sterna macrura Naum. c 690, 693. c 567, 568. R 687. 



Arctic Tern. 



800. Sterna dougalli Mont. B 692. c 569. R 688. 



Roseate Tern. 



801. Sterna superciliaris antillarum (Less.) Coues B 694. c 570. R 690. 



Least Tern. 



a Latinization, perhaps not older than about 1523, of the English tern, or stern, or sterne, 

 or stirn, there being all these, and other old forms of the word ; Danish tcerne, &c. We 

 have a vague impression that the word is onomatopoeic, from the cry of the bird One 

 of the names of the bird is the Swiss Schnirring. Most languages, however, have a 

 different set of words, equivalent to our sea-swallow; as Fr. llirondelle-de-mer ; Germ. 

 <See*3c!)ftaIbe, &c. Lat. anglica, English ; Montagu having named the bird after a 

 country where it is comparatively seldom seen. 



793. S. cas'-pt-a. To the Caspian Sea. 



794:. S. max''-I-ma. Lat. maximus, superlative degree of magnus, large. 



This is S. regia of the orig. ed. We are now willing to accept Boddaert's name. 



795. S. e-'-ie-gans. See Rallus, No. 673. 



This is S. galericulata of the orig. ed. We are glad to return to the orig. name of this 

 species, which H. S. has shown to be not galericulata Licht, as S. & S. had it. 



796. S. can-tl-a'-ca. An adjective formed from Cantium, a place in Britain, mentioned by 



Julius Caesar; now Kent, England. 



797. S. hlr-un'-do. See Hirundo, No. 159. 



798. S. f5r'-ster-L To John Reinh old Forster, who wrote, among many other things, a valuable 



account of Hudson's Bay birds, published in 1772. 



799. S. mac-ru'-ra. Gr. yuo/cpJy, long, and ovpa, tail. The word is often written macroura, and 



% defensibly so, the full form being macrooura. But it is permissible to shorten oou into 

 long ii, as we habitually do in leucurus for leucoourus. 



800. S. dou'-gal-K. To Dr. McDougall, of Scotland. 



This stands as S. paradisea Briinn., of the orig. ed. But Brunnich's bird being 

 unquestionably the Arctic Tern, No. 799, we do not see why the latter should not be 

 called S. paradisea. 



801. S. sup-er-cil-T-a r -rTs. Lat. superciliaris or super -ciliosus, supercilious; i.e., relating to the 



eye-brow, supercilium ; super and cilium, a hair ; because one raises the eyebrows in expres- 



