STERNA. 31 3 



plumage, but have a dark band on the smaller wing-coverts, 

 and brown submarginal concentric bars on the tertiaries and tail ; 

 the primaries are dark grey, with sharply contrasting white inner 

 borders. Still younger birds have most of the upper parts marked 

 with concentric brown bands, and the crown-feathers blackish 

 with white edges. 



Bill black, with the tips of both mandibles pale horny yellow ; 

 irides brown ; legs and feet black (Hume). 



Length 17 ; tail 6, depth of fork 3 ; wing 12 ; tarsus 1-1 ; bill 

 from gape 2-8. Females are a little smaller than males. 



Distribution. Coasts of North Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean, 

 Black Sea, and Caspian in summer ; in winter, African coasts as 

 far as the Cape and Natal, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and Baluchistan. 

 This bird is a winter visitor to the coast of Makran and Sind. 



Habits, fyc. This is a Sea-Tern often seen at sea several miles 

 from the shore, and but rarely straying inland, though it has been 

 found in Europe breeding on lakes near the coast. 



1501. Sterna media. The Smaller Crested Tern. 



Sterna media, Horsf. Tr. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 199 (1821) ; Hume, S. F. 



v, p. 301 ; Hume # Dav. S. F. vi, p. 493 ; Hume, Cat. no. 990 ; 



Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1030; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 95; Butler, ibid. 



p. 441 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 426 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 432 ; id. 



Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 299, fig. 990; Oates in Hume's 



N. 8f E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 299 note ; Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 86. 

 Sterna amnis, Cretzschm. in Hiipp. Atlas, p. 23, t. 14 (1826). 

 Sterna bengalensis, Lesson, Traite, p. 621 (1831) ; Hume, S. F. i, 



p. 284 ; ii, p. 318 ; iv, p. 474. 

 Thalasseus bengalensis, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xv, p. 373 ; id. Cat. p. 291 ; 



Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 843. 



The Smaller Sea- Tern, Jerdon. 



Coloration. Crown with forehead, sides of head to below the 

 orbit (but not including a spot immediately beneath the eye), nape, 

 and distinct nuchal crest black ; lores, cheeks, neck all round, and 

 lower parts white ; upper parts from neck pale ashy grey, with a 

 slight pinkish tinge on the mantle ; outer rectrices sometimes 

 whitish or white ; primaries blackish, frosted on the outer web 

 near the tip in fresh plumage, inner border whitish, a very narrow- 

 extension of this border to the tip of the feather soon disappears 

 with wear, most of the inner web and terminal edge of outer web 

 in secondaries -white. 



In winter the nape and a band from the nape to the front of 

 the eye are black, the forehead and lores white; crown black, with 

 white edges to feathers. Young birds resemble adults in winter, 

 but have much brown on the smaller coverts, tertiaries, and tail- 

 feathers. 



Bill orange-yellow ; irides brown ; legs and feet black ; soles 

 yellowish (Legge). 



Length 16'5 ; tail 5 to 6-75, depth of fork 2 to 3 ; wing 12 ; 

 tarsus 1 ; bill from gape 2'8. 



