286 Contrihtttions to the Ornithology/ of India, 8fc. 



and occiput are g*lossy black. The crown is black mottled wliite, 

 and the forehead here and there speckled with black. 



This species appears to be entirely a sea tern^, I never ob- 

 served it away from sea water. It is very tame and fearless^, fly- 

 ing- over and past the boats as one is fishing-, but like the other 

 ternS;, aiid nnlike the gulls, taking no notice of dead fish or fish 

 offal which may be thrown out as it passes. It generally flies 

 about, with its long thin bill pointed downwards like the Caspian 

 tern, but its flight is not nearly so strong nor its strokes at fish 

 as sudden and rapid as those of this latter species. In mid-day 

 it cong-reg-ates in vast flocks on some sandbank, low rock, or 

 sandy promontory, and there suns itself for hours together tak- 

 ing- little, if any, notice of passing boats. 



Our birds are absolutely identical with European specimens 

 that I possess. Mr. Gray, I note, considers Bergii of Reich, [nee 

 Licht) , or as it should stand acuflavida of Cabot, founded on speci- 

 mens from the Gulf of Mexico entitled to specific separation, 

 Schlegel does not, neither do Sclater and Salvin, and as the 

 British Museum contained no specimen of the supposed acu- 

 flavida, I prefer to follow Schlegel. 



995.— Rhyn chops albicollis, 8io. 



I found this tolerably abundant in the Jhelum, Chenab, Sut- 

 lej, and Indus, as low down as Hyderabad. I never saw it about 

 the Kurrachee Harbour or in any of the lakes. It is exclusively, 

 I think, a river bird. In the Ganges, the Jumna, the Megna, 

 and all the Eastern rivers, it is much more often seen than in 

 those we traversed in this recent trip. 



996.— Phaeton sethereus, L, 



The boatswain or bo's^m, as he is called, is not uncommon in the 

 northern portion of the Indian Ocean and up the Gulf of Oman. 

 We saw a considerable number and secured six, five of which 

 were males. I know very little of this species, but they are 

 all, as far as I can judge, immature, for Schlegel gives the length 

 of the central tail feathers in this species as 29 old Erench inches, 

 which is equal to 31-5 English inches; in no one of my 

 specimens do the central tail feathers exceed 9-5 ; or project 

 more than 5-75 beyond the others. 



They flew about the ship much like tems with their longish 

 bill pointed downwai'ds after the manner of S. caspia and seemed 

 totally fearless, in fact were attracted to the vessel by guns 

 which we fired at other birds ; they did not, any of them, come 

 very close, not nearer than 70 or 80 yards as a rule, but they 

 flew round and round at this distance for some time; they were 

 in small parties of from five to twenty, and were all as far as 



