LARID.E— THE GULLS AND TERNS. 241 



8. paradisaea. Lower parts deei)or giay, almost as dark as upper parts; otherwise 

 like *'. hirundo, but lateral tail-foathers more elongated. Hab. Circurapolar 

 districts, south in winter, in America, to northern United States (breeding as far 

 south as coast of Now England).] 

 §§. Both webs of outer tail-feather entirely white, or grayish white, 

 rr. S. dongalli. Lower parts delicate "peach-blossom pink" fading to pinkish white or 

 pure white in dried skins. Bnb. Atlantic coast of United States, West Indies, 

 and various parts of old world.] 

 h. Upper parts slate-gray or sooty blackish, the forehead and sides of crown white; 

 six to ten middle tail-feathers slaty or blackish. (Subgenus Ualiplana Wagl.) 

 [8. S. fuKginosa. Upper parts sooty black. Hah. Tropical and sub-tropical coasts of 

 both hemispheres, north to the South Atlantic (casually to Now England) States.] 

 [9. S. anaethetus. Upper parts slate-gray, fading into white on hind-neck. Hab, 

 Tropical sea-coasts, north to Florida.] 

 II. Wing less th:in 7.00 inches. (Subgenus Sternula BoiE.) 

 10. S. antillarum. 



Subgenus THALASSEUS Boie. 



Thalasgeus BoiE, Isis, 1822,563. Type, Sterna caspia PALii.,=,S'. tschegrava Lepech. 

 SyloclieUdon Bbehm, Vog. Deutschl. lS30,7(i7. Same type. 



SuBGEN. Chak. Largest and most powerful of the Terns. Tail much less than half as 

 long as the wing, forked for less than one fifth of its total length ; feathers of occiput nor- 

 mal (short and blended, not forming a crest) ; depth of bill at base equal to nearly one third 

 the exposed culmen; inner webs of primaries umcolored (plain gray or slaty). 



Sterna tschegrava Lepechin. 



CASPIAN TEEN. 



Popular synomym. Gannet (coast Virginia). 



Sterna tschegrava Lepech. Nov. Comm. Petrop. xiv, 1770, 500, pi. 13, fig. 2.— A. 0. U. Cheek 



List, 1886, No. 64.— Ridgw. Man. N. Am. B. 1887, 39. 

 Sterna caspia Pall. Nov. Comm. Petrop. xiv, 1770, 582.— Gmel.S. N. i, pt. ii, 1788,603.— Lawb. 



In Baird's B. N. Am. 1858, 859.— Baibd, Cat. N. Am. B. 185S, No. 682.— Coues, Key, 1872, 



319; Check List, No. 591 ; 2d ed. 1882, No. 793.— Rldgw. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, No. 680.— 



B. B. & R. Water B. N. Am. ii, 1884, 280. 

 Thalasseus caspius BoiE, Isis, 1822, 563.— CouES, Proc. Acad. Nat Sci. Phila, 1862, 537, 



—Elliot, Ulustr. Am. B. pi. 56. 

 Sterna {Thalasseus) caspia CouES, B. N. "W. 1S74, 667. 

 Sterna caspica Spaekm. Mus. Carls, iii, 1788, pi. 62. 

 Sterna megarhynchos Meter, Tasch. Deutsch. Vog. ii, 1810, 457. 

 Sylochelidon strennus Gould, P. Z. S. 1846, 21 : B. Austr. vii, 1848, pi. 22 (Australia). 

 Thalassites melanotis Sw. B. W. Afr. 1837,253 (type in Cambridge Mus.; examined by H. S.). 

 Sylochelidon halthica et schiUingii Brehm, Vog. Deutsehl. 1831, 769, 770. 

 Sterna major Ellman, Zool. 1861. 7472. 

 Thalasseus imperator Coues, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1862,538 (text; Labrador). 



Sterna caspia, var. imperator Ridgw. Ann. Lye. N. Y. x, 1874, 3;)1. 

 Sterna regia (nee Game.) Ridgw. Orn. 40th Par. 1877, 639 (Humboldt Lake, Nevada). 



Hab. Palffarctie Region. North America in general, but very irregularly distributed: 

 breeding in Labrador, along the Arctic coast, on islands iji Lake Michigan and along coast 

 of Virginia and Texas! Humboldt Marshes, Nevada, numerous; coast of California; Aus- 

 tralia. 



—31 



