568 



MESSRS. SCLATER AND SALVIN 



[Juue 20, 



collected by Mr. Rogers on the coast of South Brazil. There can 

 therefore be no question of its being found in the intermediate 

 localities. As it appears to agree better than any other species with 

 Button's Grande Hirondelle de Mer de Cayenne (Hist. Nat. ix. 

 p. 219; PI. Enl. 988), we adopt Boddaert's name Sterna maxima, 

 as the first applicable to the bird. The only other large Tern to 

 which Button's description and plate could possibly be referable is 

 Sterna galericulata. But the bill of Button's figure is much more 

 nearly like the stout bill of Gambel's 5. regia than the slender in- 

 curved bill of 5. galericulata. 



Fig. 1. 



Head of Sterna maxima (reduced one-third). 



S. erythrorhynchos of P. Max. and Burmeister seems to be founded 

 on Brazilian specimens of this species. 



S. maxima is at once distinguishable from all other Neotropical 

 Terns by its large size and strong straight bill (see fig. 1), which is 

 upwards of 2| inches in length from the front. Its wing measures 

 from 14 to 15'5 inches. S. galericulata, which comes next to it in 

 size (wing 11 '5 to 12 inches), has the bill equally long, but much 

 more slender and incurved (see fig. 2, p. 569). In the adult 8. ga- 

 lericidata the under plumage has a rosy tinge, which we have never 

 seen in skins of the present species. 



2. Sterna galericulata. 



Sterna galericulata, Licht. Doubl. p. 81 ; Schlegel, Mus. des P.-B. 

 Sterna, p. 7. 



Sterna elegans, Gamb. Pr. Ac. Nat. Sc. Phil. iv. 129; Baird, 

 B. N. A. 860, pi. 94 ; Leotaud, Ois. de Trin. p. 542. 



Thalasseus elegans, Coues, Ibis, 1864, p. 389 ; Salvin, Ibis, 1866, 

 p. 198. 



Sterna e.omata, Ph. et Landb. Wiegm. Arch. 1863, pt. 1, p. 126. 



Hah. Tehuantepec (Sumichrast) ; Pacific coast of Honduras {Dow) ; 

 Trinidad {Leotaud); Brazilian coast {Licht.); Arica, Peru (Frobeen). 



Of this species Salvin has one specimen in winter plumage, shot 

 by Capt. Dow in the Bay of Fonseca (which has been compared by 

 Dr. Coues with the type of S. elegans), and a second specimen in 

 full breeding-plumage from Tehuantepec. Two skins obtained by 



