HYDROCHELFDON HYBEIDA. 997 



Forehead, anterior portion of the lores, face, throat, and entire under surface pure white ; lores just in front of the 

 eye striped with black ; crown greyish, the feathers with central blackish stripes ; occiput, nape, and behind the 

 eye black, the feathers tipped with white ; back, wings, and tail pale bluish grey, the latter tinged somewhat with 

 brownish ; hind neck just below the black of the nape whitish. The coloration of the head varies, some examples 

 having the crown much more striated than others. 



Tlie change to summer plumage takes place by a moult, commencing in Ceylon at the end of February or beginning of 

 March, the head and back changing first, then the dark feathers of the chest and underparts appearing among the 

 white ones ; the quills and tail-feathers are moulted in the spring, and apparently at an earlier date than the 

 body-feathers. 



Nestling in down. Buff : chin and chest white ; forehead and a broad band across the fore neck black, connected by a 

 stripe on each side of the chin ; crown and hind neck marked with black, as also the lower back, rump, and wings ; 

 on each side of the white chest is a brownish patch joining the black of the throat : bill at front 0-3 inch. 



In another specimen, from Galicia, the back is blackish brown, striped and mottled with reddish grey; head and hind 

 neck grey, with less of the reddish tint ; crown mottled with black, and down the hind neck a broad stripe of the 

 same; behind the ears a patch of black; beneath greyish, tinged with brown on the throat. The quills are 

 appearing in this specimen, but there is no sign of the scapulars, which generally accompany them. Bill to gape 

 0'95 inch. 



The nestling plumage at first is characterized by the very dark rufous edgings of the upper-surface feathers, and is as 

 follows : — Head blackish brown, striated obscurely with cinereous ; ear-coverts concolorous with the head ; back 

 and scapulars blackish brown, the bases of the feathers grey and the tips rufous ; lower back grey, also the tail 

 and coverts ; wing-coverts slate-grey, tipped here and there with mingled brown and rufous ; tertials tipped with 

 rufous ; beneath white, encroaching on the brown of the hind neck. In course of time the rufous edgings change 

 or fade to buff. In some specimens the tertials and scapulars are deeply indented along the margins with rufescent. 

 This plumage is doffed during the early part of the winter, as late as December in Ceylon, and the blue-grey 

 feathers of the upper surface assumed ; the head, however, remains much darker than in the adult in winter ; 

 the least wing-coverts are dark grey, and these dark feathers are again acquired in the second autumn, being then 

 the only sign of adolescence. 



06s. No difference of character is perceptible in this bird from any country within its widely-extended habitat. 

 Examples from India, China, Europe, and Africa in size fall within my limits for Ceylon : — " Amoy" ( <J), wing 

 9'0 inches, bill to gape 1-55 (date 28th of August, still in summer plumage) ; " China ''(?), wing 8-7 ; " Malta " 

 (d)> wing 8-7, bill to gape 1-7; "South Africa" (Mus. Saunders), wing 8'7. The summer plumage of male 

 Chinese specimens is darker than that of females. 



Distribution. — This Marsh-Tern is the most abundant of its family in Ceylon, being found throughout 

 the entire sea-board, and frequenting likewise marshy places, paddy-fields, tanks, and inland waters in both 

 the cultivated and jungly districts of the interior as far in as the base of the mountains, although its numbers 

 in the south and west of the island gradually decrease away from the maritime districts. In the north of the 

 island this rule, however, does not apply so strictly ; for Marsh-Terns are found plentifully at the large tanks 

 of Topare, Minery, Padawiya, Anaradhapura, &c, and at Kanthelai it is abundant. It is found in greatest 

 numbers in large paddy-fields and marshes close to the sea. Although a resident in the island to a consider- 

 able extent, large numbers leave for more northern latitudes in April and return in September. I have met 

 with it in June and July about the leways of Hambantota and Kirinde in perfect winter plumage, both in adult 

 and adolescent stages, and at Kanthelai and Topare tanks have seen it in summer and winter plumage in 

 August. In the west and south of the island it is found in greater numbers about paddy-fields than on the 

 open coast ; but in the north, where the sea-shore is intersected with lakes, backwaters, and shallow islets, it 

 is very abundant on the coast. 



This species is very common throughout India, frequenting marshes, rivers, and all inland waters ; it extends 

 northwards into Turkestan (where it breeds, according to Severtzoff), and also into Mongolia as far north as 

 the Hoang-ho valley ; eastwards it is found in Tenasserim, and probably occurs in Siam and Cochin China, 

 for Swinhoe procured it in Formosa, beyond which it has occurred in the Philippines at Manilla. Southwards 

 in this direction it occurs in Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Celebes, the Togian islands, and is spread most likely 

 more or less throughout Malasia, for it is found in Australia, on which continent Gould procured it in New 



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