SOOTY TERN. 



165 



Sterna fuliginosa. Gmel. Syst. Nat. I. 605. Lath. Ind. Oni. 



2. 804. 

 L' Hirondelle de mer a grande envergure. Buff. Hist. Nat. Ois. 



8.345. 

 Sooty Tern. Lath. Gen. Syn. 6. 352. Perm. Arct. Zool. 2. 447- 



Wils. Amer. Orn. v. 8. p. 145. pi. Ixxii. f. 7. Lath. Gen. 



Hist. x. 102.^. clxxiv. 



The Sooty Tern is in length sixteen inches : its 

 beak is black : the forehead is white, the colour passing* 

 on each side to the upper part of the eye, where it 

 ends in a point : through the eyes, passing to the 

 hind head, is a streak of black : the crown, nape, hind 

 part of the neck, and all the upper parts of the body, 

 the wings and tail are black : the inner ridge of the 

 wing white ; the quills dark greyish-black : the under 

 parts of the plumage, from the chin, white, passing 

 a little backwards at the lower part of the neck : the 

 outer web of the exterior tail-feathers white, except 

 the tip : the shafts of the quills and tail are white 

 beneath ; the legs are black. 



Found in most parts of the southern temperate 

 regions, being met with by navigators on the coasts of 

 New Holland, the Island of Ascension, New Guinea, 

 Christmas Island, and other parts. It is said to lay 

 a single egg on the bare ground, in December. 



