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Ordee ANSERES.] 



STEENA FRONTALIS. 



(WHITE-FRONTED TERN.) 



[Fam. LARIDJi 



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my h*^ fie^rribed as 

 ■^wd ra>pmgnote;at 



Sterna frontalis, Gray, Voy. Ereb. & Terr. Birds, p. 19 (1844). 

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

 Sterna atripes^ Ellraan, Zool. 1861, p. 7473. 

 Sterna longipennis, Finsch, J. f. O. 1867, p. 339. ■ 



Native name. — Tara ; " Sea-swallow " of the Colonists. 



Ad, ptiL (estiv. supr^ albicanti-cinereus^ remigibus cano lavatis^ primarii primi pogonio externo nigro, peuiiis 



■minoribus ad apicem late albis^ reliquis intus versus apicem albis : cauda alba : capite et nucha nigris^ 

 fi*onte et facie laterali albis : subtus albus : rostro nigrOj ad basin brunnescente : pedibus rufescenti- 

 brunneis : iride nigra. 



Ad, ptiL Mem, similis ptilosi sestivse^ sed fronte alba latiore et vertice plus minusve albo vario. 



Juv. capite cinerascenti-nigro^ albido vario : supr^ dilute cinereus^ obscure nigricante fasciatus et notatus : 



tectricibus alarum minimis nigricantibus. 



January. The ^, 



*,- 



in ikr ciliMemee 



n'nff i! '" inches in 

 \h white tint, tlie 



j "^^h pale spiMta of 



v^ be mu-'''^Ded, 



-1, 



' ' brown 

 1 " 



tint, thickly 



Adult in summer. Crown of the head and nape black ; a band immediately over the bilb the lores, and 

 cheeks pure white ; back and upper surface of wings pale ashy grey ; the rest of the plumage pure 

 white ; the breast and sides of the body often suffused with a delicate rosy tint^ which fades after 

 death. Irides and bill black; legs and feet reddish brown. Length 16 inches; extent of wings 33; 

 wing^ from flexure^ 11 ; tail 7 (the middle feather 3 inches shorter); bill, along the ridge VQ, along 

 the edge of lower mandible 2*25; bare tibia '4; tarsus '6 ; middle toe and claw !•!. 



Adult in winter. Differs in having the white frontal band more extended^ and the black crown more or less 

 varied or spotted with white. 



Young. Forehead, crown of the head and nape greyish black, mottled with white ; the whole of the back, 

 the feathers composing the mantle, and some of the larger wing-coverts dark silvery grey, varied with 

 white, and handsomely mottled and barred with greyish black ; the smaller wing-coverts uniform 

 greyish black, except along the edge of the wing, where they become white ; underparts silky Avhite, 

 as in the adult. The barred character is most conspicuous on the scapulars and long inner secondaries ; 

 and both these and the tail-feathers have crescent-shaped markings near the tips. 



Nestling. Covered with buffy-white down, tinged with fulvous on the head and neck, and mottled witl 

 grey on the back. 



1 



Fledgeling. Feathers of the back and the scapulars greyish white, with broad crescentic marks of black ; 

 the down on the back buffy white, mottled and marbled with dark grey; wing-feathers (half an inch in 

 length) silvery grey, broadly margined with white. 



/ 



