STEENA SEENA. 



(THE INDIAN RIVER -TERN. 



Sterna seem, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1834, p. 171; Saunders, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 645 ; Hume, Nests 



and Eggs, iii. p. 650 (1875); id. Str. Feath. 1878, p. 492 (B. of Tenass.), et 1879, 



p. 116 (List of Ind. B.). 

 Sterna aurantia, Gray & Hardw. 111. Ind. Zool. i. pi. 69. fig. 2 (1832) ; Hume, Str. Feath. 



1873, p. 281. 

 Sterna Irevirostris, Gray & Hardw. t. c. fig. 1 (1832). 

 Seena aurantia (Hardw.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 291 (1849) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. 



Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 271 ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 838 (1864); Holdsw. P. Z. S. 



1872, p. 480. 

 The Large River-Tern, Jerdon ; Sykes 's Tern of some. 



Adult female (Tenasserim). Length 16'75 inches ; wing 10-9 ; tail 7 - 75 ; tarsus 0-85 ; bill to gape 2-38, at front 

 1-55. 



Male (Godaveri). Wing 11-0 inches ; tail 6-9, depth of fork 4-8 ; tarsus 0-8 ; bill at front 1-6.—" India," sex? Wing 

 ll'O ; tail 6-8 ; tarsus 0-85 ; middle toe and claw 075; bill to gape 2-5. 



The bill is stout and curved throughout in this species, resembling that of the Caspian Tern ; lateral tail-feathers highly 

 attenuated in the breeding-season. 



Breeding-plumage. Iris brown ; bill fine orange ; legs and feet bright orange-red. 



Female (Tenasserim). Head and nape intense black, with a greenish lustre, including the entire forehead and lores to 

 the gape, and thence under the eye to above the ear-coverts ; beneath the eye a white spot ; hind neck, back, 

 scapulars, wing-coverts, and tertials dark slate, paling on the rump and upper tail-coverts and central tail-feathers 

 into bluish slate ; three lateral pair of feathers white, tinged with grey ; secondaries slate-grey ; primaries grey 

 on the inner webs, and " frosted " white on the outer, the coverts the same ; chin round the gape and ear-coverts 

 white, darkening imperceptibly on the fore neck, entire under surface, axillaries, and under wing into delicate grey, 

 most pronounced on the lower breast ; under tail-coverts white. Some examples are paler above than the one here 

 noticed. 



Winter plumage. Bill yellow, " dusky brown at the tip for half an inch " {Bailer) ■ legs and feet not so bright as in 

 summer. 



Forehead whitish, passing into grey on the head and occiput ; round the eye a dark border, most prominent in front ; 

 "ear-coverts dusky blackish" {Hume). The black head is said by Mr. Hume to be worn until December; and 

 as the bird breeds in March, the winter plumage must be doffed very shortly after it is assumed. In a specimen 

 before me changing to breeding-dress, the new black feathers of the head are intermingled with those of winter, 

 which are very plainly dai-k grey. 



Young. Although this bird is so common in India, I have been unable to detect a specimen of the nestling in down in 

 any collection in England. 



The immature bird is figured by Hardwicke {I. c), from whose plate I take the following description : — 



Bill yellow, tipped with black ; iris dark brown ; legs and feet yellow. 



Head fulvous brown, with blackish strise ; ear-coverts and beneath and in front of the eye blackish ; above slate- 

 grey, the feathers of the hind neck and back tipped with blackish ; the wing-coverts, scapulars, and tertials tipped 

 and edged with buff, bordered internally with blackish ; upper tail-coverts edged with dark grey. 



Captain Beavan (Ibis, 180S, p. 403) says that the edgings to the feathers of the upper part are dark and wavy. 



6k 



