18/6.] MR. H, SAUNDERS ON THE STERNIN.E. 659 



group, we find a uniformly dark mantle and tail ; but at Ceylon we 

 begin to meet with a race which differs in no respect but that, of size, 

 and this by imperceptible gradations. I must therefore follow Messrs. 

 Finseh & Hartlaub, and unite these three varieties under one head. 

 Before coming to this conclusion, I have examined about 70 speci- 

 mens, and must especially acknowledge the great assistance I have 

 received from the fine series of sexed and dated specimens sent to 

 me from Ceylon by Capt. V. Legge, 11. A. It is at Ceylon that the 

 two races seem to unite, large and small examples occurring through- 

 out the year in the same locality and flocks ; and the difference thus 

 becomes reduced to one of mere individual peculiarity. A series of 

 measurements show that in length of wing (14 inches) and general 

 dimensions, some Australian specimens are fully equal to the largest 

 African ones ; Polynesian examples are somewhat smaller, and there 

 is less of a brown tinge in the colour of the back. This Tern appears 

 to range as far as the Sandwich Islands ; but I have not seen 

 specimens. 



The description given by Thompson, in the 'Birds of Ireland,' of 

 the bird killed between Howth and Dublin undoubtedly applies to 

 this species ; but it is to be regretted that he did not see it in the 

 Jtesh, as the fact of the specimen having the black head and white 

 frontlet band (the mark of the fullest breeding -plumage) at the end 

 of December, is somewhat remarkable. I learn from Mr. A. G. 

 More, of the Dublin Museum, that this specimen is no longer in 

 existence, having been burned with the rest of Mr. Walter's collec- 

 tion many years ago. 



Sterna frontalis, Gray. 



1 Sterna striata, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 609 (1788): Striated 

 Tern, Lath. Syn. iii. 2, p. 358, pi. 98 — New Zealand (from a drawing 

 by Sir J. Banks), jr. 



Sterna velox, Gould (neclliipp.), P. Z. S. 18-12, p. 140. 



Sterna frontalis, Gray, Voy. Erebus & Terror, p. 19 (1844) ; 

 Hand-list, iii. p. 118 (1871) ; Buller, B. New Zealand, p. 281 

 (1873). 



Sterna albifrons, Peale, U.S. Expl. Exp. Birds, p. 279 (1848). 



Sterna melanorhyncha, Gould, B. Australia, vii. pi. 26 (1848) — 

 Van Diemen's Land ; id. Handbk. B. Australia, ii. p. 398 (1865) ; 

 v. Pelzeln, Orn. Novara-Keise, p. 154 (1865); Gray, Hand-list, iii. 

 p. 118 (1871). 



Sterna atripes, Ellman, Zoologist, 1861, p. 7473. 



Sterna longipennis, Finsch (nee Naum.), J. f. Orn. 1867, p. 339. 



" Phcetusa astrolabes, Bp.," specimen in the Paris Mus. from 

 Tongatabu, Quoy & Gaimard's Voy., is a young bird ; but another 

 bird from same locality and similarly named=*S'. bergiil — II. S. 



After comparing an immature specimen of this species with 

 Latham's plate of the Striated Tern from New Zealand, I have no 

 doubt in my own mind that this was the bird he figured ; but it must 

 be admitted that the drawing and description would almost equally 

 suit the young of the Sandwich Tern ; and S. striata, Gm., has in con- 



