ADDITIONAL NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF SINDH. 325 



Indian readers, that, excluding S. nereis of Gould, which has 

 even in the adult no black lores, but only a dark spot in front 

 of the eye, five species of little Tern are admitted by Mr. 

 Saunders, the latest writer on the subject. 

 The distinctions on which Mr. Saunders relies to separate 



these supposed species are, so far as I have been able to seize 



them, abstracted in the subjoined table : — 



Name Shafts of outer Bump, tail-coverts, 



primaries. and tail. Bill. 



S. minuta. L. Dark ... White; ... Yellow, black at tip 



S. antillaruin, Less. Dark ... Rump and tail coverts Ditto, but more slen- 



pale grey like der and little black 



mantle. a t tip. 



S. superciliary, Vieill. ? ... Back, rump, and tail Stout as in minuta, 



darker than in the no black. 



above. 

 S. sinensis, Gmel. ... White ... White, often a grey As in minuta, but per- 



shade in non breed- haps stouter. 



ing plumage. 

 S. sumatrana, Baffl. Black ... Grey as in back ... More slender than in 



antillarum. 



As regards the last, I must dissent to this application of 

 Raffles' name. Bad as his description is, and he was probably 

 dealing with au immature bird, " the prevailing color white 

 and tail like back," and the words u a blackish crescent exteuds 

 from eye to eye, round the back of the head" to mv mind fix 

 the species as identical with melanauohen, Tern., the 

 commonest Tern at the Andamans, Nicobars, the Straits and on 

 the coasts of Sumatra. 



The other name given by Mr. Saunders for this species 

 pusilla of Miiller, seems to be quite indeterminable. 



If the race is to stand as a species, it had better stand as 

 S. Saundersi, that gentleman being practically, it seems to me 

 its discoverer. 



There is no mistake as to the race; to it belong all the Kur- 

 rachee specimens sent by Capt. Butler, and all my Laccadivc 

 specimens, to it belong some Ceylon specimens and a Madras 

 specimen aud a nestling from Phillor on the Sutlege. 



It has a trifle less deep bill than minuta (European) ; it has 

 the shafts of the first three primaries (at least) black (the first occa- 

 sionally in non-breeding plumage rather brown) ; and the entire 

 rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail, (except the longest and external 

 feather on either side, which is pure white) grey, unicolorous 

 with the back. 



Note that this grey varies in shade according to season, beiu in- 

 considerably darker in the freshly-moulted bird. 



It has in the breeding season more black on the tips of the 

 mandibles than minuta ; but the most conspicuous difference 



Rl7 



