18/6. J MR. H.SAUNDERS ON THE STERNIN.E. 657 



Syloehelidon caspia, Brehm, Vog. Deutsch. p. 770 (1831), type 

 of Syloehelidon ; Bias. J. f. Ore. 1866, p. 82; Gould, Haudbk. B. 

 Austr. ii. p. 392 (1865). 



Syloehelidon balthica et S. schillinyii, Brehm, Vogel Deutsch. 

 p. 769, 770 (1831). 



He/opus caspius, Wagler, Isis, 1832, p. 1224 (type of Helopus). 



Thalassites melanotis, Swain. B. W. Af. ii. p. 253 (1837) (type in 

 Camb. Mus. examined, II. S.). 



Syloehelidon strenuus, Gould, P. Z. S. 1846, p. 21; Gould, B. 

 Austr. vii. pi. 22 (1848). 



Syloehelidon melanotis, Bp. Compt. Rend. 1856, p. 772. 



Sterna melanotis, Hartl. Orn. West-Afr. p. 254 (1857). 



Sterna major, Ellman, Zool. 1861, p. 747 2. 



This large and well-known Tern is found from Northern Europe 

 to New Zealand, and in America from Labrador, where it breeds, 

 down to New Jersey. Mr. Bernard Ross also found it as far west 

 as Great Slave Lake and the Mackenzie river. 



It is now generally conceded that there is but one species. 



With regard to the name, Dr. Elliott Coues very justly remarks 

 that it is undesirable to adopt Lepechin's cacophonous name, in 

 place of the well-known one given by Pallas, merely on the score of 

 a priority of 82 pages. 



Sterna bernsteini, Schlegel. 



Sterna bernsteini. Schlegel, Mus. P.-B. Stemce, p. 9 (1863) ( cf , 

 winter E. coast of Halmahera ; tvpe in Leyden Mus. examined, 

 H.S.). 



Thalasseus bernsteini, Bias. J. f. Orn. 1866, p. 81. 



This large and very light-coloured species, the mantle being even 

 paler than in S. cantiaca or S. maxima, is classed by Prof. Schlegel 

 amongst the group which has the white frontlet band in the breeding- 

 plumage. This may be the case ; but I can discern no proof of it 

 in the type and only specimen iu the Leyden Museum, nor in two 

 others from the Island of Rodriguez in the British Museum, nor in 

 two others from Round Island and He de la Baleine, in the collection 

 of Messrs. A. & E. Newton ; for all these, the only ones I have ever 

 seen, are equally in winter dress. The bill is yellow ; but the 

 black at the apex in the type is probably an individual peculiarity. 



This Tern is closely allied to S. maxima ; and, until we obtain a 

 specimen in full plumage, its place seems to be next to it in order. 

 The dimensions are: — Wing 1 2*5 to 13 inches; tarsus l'l ; foot, 

 including middle claw, 1*15; bill 1*8. 



Sterna bergii, Licht. ,/ 



Sterna bergii, Licht. Verzeich. p. 80 (1823), South Africa (type 



in Berlin M. examined, H.S.); Schlegel, Mus. P.-Bas, Stemce, 



p. 11 (1863); Finsch & Hartl. Vog. Ost-Afr. p. 828 (1870); 



Shelley, B. of Egypt, p. 298 (1872). 



Sterna cristata, Steph. in Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. i. p. 146 



(1825) (nee Swainson) ; Swinhoe, Ibis, I860, p. 68, 1863, p. 30. 



