MUSTACHOE VIRALVE. 171 



on the plumage is tinted with cinereous : the fore- 

 head is clear ash : and all the feathers on the upper 

 parts are more or less tipped with whitish-ash. 



This species inhabits the borders of the Mediter- 

 ranean ; the lakes, rivers, and marshy countries in 

 the vicinity of the Alps : it is very common in the 

 lakes of Lucerne, Lugano, and Como ; and some- 

 times appears on that of Geneva. It feeds on insects 

 and aquatic vermes : its eggs are unknown. 



MUSTACHOE VIRALVE. 



( Viral va leucopareia.) 



Vi. ccendescente-cinerea ; Jronte, vertice, occipite, nuchaque nigris ; 



capitis colliqiie lateribus albis ; rostro pedibusque rubris. 

 Bluish-ash Viralve with the forehead, crown, occiput, and nape 



black ; the sides of the head and neck white ; the beak and 



legs red. 

 Hirondelle de mer Moustache. (Sterna leucopareia.) Temm.man. 



d'Om. 2 Edit. ii. 746. 

 Sterna Delamotta. Vieil. Enc. Meth. p. 350. 

 Mustachoe Tern. Lath. Gen. Hist. x. 110. 



Length eleven inches : beak and legs deep red : 

 irides black : the forehead, top of the head, and nape, 

 the neck, and all the under parts clear white : behind 

 the eyes a black spot : the back, wings, quills, and 

 tail ashy-grey : this is the winter plumage. In summer 

 the head is, as it were, enveloped in a black hood, 

 which encompasses the eyes, and passes down to the 



