402 LARID.E 



Sooty Tern, and this was subsequently confirmed by Mr. 

 T. Southwell. The bird, an adult, was in good plumage, 

 and has been well preserved. When picked up it was in 

 a very emaciated condition and had evidently died from 

 exhaustion . 



DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 



PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial. Forehead, eye-stripe, 

 sides and front of neck, breast, and abdomen, white ; top of 

 head and back of neck, deep black ; on either side between 

 the eye and the base of the beak is a black stripe ; back, 

 scapulars, and wings, sooty-black ; two outer tail-feathers, 

 which are longer than the rest, margined with white on 

 their outer webs. 



Adult female nuptial. Similar to the male plumage. 



Adult winter , male and female. Resembles the nuptial 

 plumage, but the top and sides of the head are flecked with 

 white, 



Immature, male and female. Throat, breast, and abdo- 

 men, sooty-brown ; back and wings, darker, with white tips 

 to all the feathers except the primaries. 



BEAK. Black. 



FEET. Black. 



IRIDES. Deep reddish-brown. 



EGGS. " Pinkish-cream or bluish-white, with an endless 

 variety of lavender and chestnut-red blotches ; the shell being 

 smooth, whereas in the egg of the Noddy a bird often 

 found breeding in the same localities the surface is of a 

 rough chalky nature " (Saunders). One egg constitutes the 

 clutch. 



AVERAGE MEASUREMENTS. 



TOTAL LENGTH ... ... ... 17 in. 



WING 11-75 



BEAK ... 2'1 



TARSO-METATARSUS ... - 9 ,, 



EGG 2 x 1-5 in. 



Allied Species and Representative Forms. A specimen 

 of the Smaller Sooty Tern (S. ancestheta), an inter-tropical 

 species, supposed to have been taken on one of the lightships 

 at the mouth of the Thames in September, 1875, has 



