1876.] MR. H. SAUNDERS ON THE STERNIN^E. 6.33 



from Damaraland being really S '. jiuviatilis in winter dress; but 

 tbere are specimens in the British Museum from the Cape of Good 

 Hope, and I have several examples from Natal. It is found off 

 Rodriguez, and breeds at the Andaman Islands, where the eggs, 

 sent with the parent birds by Capt. Wimberley, are far handsomer 

 in markings than any American specimens ; and quite recently I 

 have received from Capt. Vincent Legge, R.A., a lovely rose-tinted 

 specimen from Ceylon, shot in May, with but little black on the 

 mandibles. Capt. Legge writes that a month later the red in the 

 bills of the birds still on the coast had almost disappeared, showing 

 what a changeable and untrustworthy character the colour of the bill 

 is. From Ceylon this species is found throughout the Malayan islands 

 down to Houtmann's Abrolhos, on the west coast of Australia. 



In North America, where it is far more abundant than in Europe, 

 it breeds from Massachusetts to Florida and at the Bermudas ; also 

 in Central America, and visits various West-Indian islands. In the 

 British Museum is a skin registered as obtained at Taboga ; and, the 

 only place I know of that name being an island off Panama, this is 

 a considerable extension of its range, if the locality can be trusted. 



Sterna cantiaca, Gm. 



Sterna cantiaca, Gm. Syst. Nat./i. p. 606(1/88); Schl. Mus. 

 P. B. Sterne, p. 5 (1863) ; Layard^B. S. Africa, p. 370 (1867); 

 Scl. & Salvin, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 569 ; Coues, B. N.W. Am. 

 p. 673 (1874). 



Sterna africaua, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 605 (1788), jr. 



Sterna boysii, Lath. Ind. Orn. ii. p. 804 (1790). 



Sterna canescens, Meyer & Wolf, Tasch. deutsch. Vog. ii. p. 458 

 (1810). 



Thalasseus cantiacus, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 563 ; Bias. J. f. Orn. 

 1866, p. 81. 



Actochelidon cantiacus, Kaup, Sk. Entw. Eur.Thier. p. 31 (1829), 

 type of Actochelidon. 



Thalasseus canescens et candicans, Brehm, Vbg. Deutsch. pp. 776, 

 777 (1831). 



Sterna acufiavida, Cabot, Pr. Bost. Soc. ii. p. 257 (1847) ; Lawr. 

 Birds B. N. Am. p. 860 (1858). 



Thalasseus acufiavidus, Coues, Pr. Phil. Ac. 1862, p. 540. 



Actochelidon cantiaca, Gray, Hand-list, iii. p. 119 (1871). 



It is now generally admitted that the European and American 

 birds are identical. The range of this species may therefore be 

 broadly described as from Northern Europe to the Cape of Good 

 Hope and the Bay of Bengal in winter, and along the Atlantic 

 coast of North America to the West-Indian Islands, Honduras 

 (probably its southern breeding-limit), and Brazil, at least as far as 

 Bahia, whence I have a specimen. 



Sterna elegans, Gamb. 



Sterna elegans, Gambel, Pr. Phil. Ac. iv. 1848, p. 129 (Ma- 

 zatlan) ; Lawr. Birds N. A. p. 860 (1858). 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1876, No. XLIII. 43 



