562 LARID#. 



GA VI^E. LARID^E. 



STERNA FULIGINOSA, Gmelin.* 

 THE SOOTY TERN. 



Sterna fidiginosa. 



BY the kindness of Mr. H. W. Desvceux, of Drakelow 

 Hall, the Author was enabled to exhibit at a meeting of 

 the Linnean Society in February, 1853, a well-preserved 

 specimen of the Sooty Tern, Sterna fuliginosa of authors. 

 This bird was stated to have been shot in October, 1852, at 

 Tutbury, near Burton-on-Trent, and having been purchased 

 by Mr. Desvoeux for his collection, the figure here given was 

 taken from it. A second occurrence of this rare straggler 

 was recorded by Mr. J. E. Harting, who stated in ' The 

 Field/ 26th June, 1869, that he examined in the flesh a 

 specimen shot on the 21st June, near Wallingford in Berk- 

 shire, and now in the possession of Mr. Franklyn. Other 

 so-called examples have proved upon examination to be 

 specimens of the Black Tern. 



* Syst. Nat. i. p. 605 (1788). Wagler made this single species the type of 

 no less than three genera, Onychoprion, Planctis, and Holiplana ; there does 

 not, however, appear to be any sufficient structural difference to warrant its 

 separation from Sterna. 



