1012 STERNA ANGLICA. 



1st plumage (Mus. Saunders). Head grey, tinged with tawny rufescent, and the feathers with black stripes ; hind neck 

 white ; back, scapulars, and wings grey, with the feathers of the interscapulary region tawny rufescent, with black 

 shaft-lines ; the tertials rufescent at the tips, and with black drop-shaped marks near the tips ; tail very pale 

 grey, with subterminal spots of blackish, and a tinge of yellowish rufescent at the tip ; quills as in the adult. 



Bill fleshy reddish ; legs and feet brown. 



A Ceylonese example shot at the end of September has acquired the bluish feathers of the upper surface and wing- 

 coverts, and there is no dark bar along the ulna, the lesser coverts being concolorous with the greater ; the tertials 

 have black-brown patches near the tips, and edgings and indentations of fulvous buff ; the tail-feathers have 

 blackish-grey patches near the tips, with similar coloured margins to the tertials ; the crown, occiput, and nape 

 have brown mesial stripes ; the loral streaks, patches in front of the eyes and on the ear-coverts are much the same 

 as in the adult, but the latter are of a brownish hue ; the primary shafts from the 3rd inwards are sullied with brown, 

 the first three only being pure white. After the moulting of the dark-marked feathers here noticed there would 

 be little or no sign of the young plumage in the following spring. A single new tertial feather among the dark- 

 marked abraded ones has a small blackish shaft-stripe near the tip ; and this, together with the dark primary 

 shafts, would be the only signs of adolescent plumage in the wings. 



Obs. There appears to be a noticeable difference in the size of the males and females in this species, which I do not 

 find to be the case in all species, though it is commonly maintained that the female in this family is always the 

 smaller. In the present bird there is also considerable individual variation. This difference is very perceptible 

 in the feet and legs, and caused Gould to separate Australian specimens he obtained, which happened to be large, 

 as a distinct species, S. macrotarsa. The American form, again, named by Wilson S. aranea, is identical with the 

 Asiatic bird. An example in summer plumage, before me, corresponds, as regards the coloration of the upper 

 surface, with Ceylonese specimens, and measures as follows: — wing 11-8 inches; tail 4*5; tarsus 1-15; bill at 

 front 1*5. A European specimen measures : — wing 12-5 inches ; tail 4-6 ; tarsus 1-35 ; middle toe, without claw. 

 0-9 ; bill to gape 2-2. 



Distribution. — This well-known Tern is one of the most abundant species of its family in Ceylon, for 

 though it is not so common on the west coast from Negombo down to Galle and Tangalla as the two 

 Crested Terns, it is very numerous round the whole sea-board of the east and north of Ceylon, com- 

 mencing at Hambantota, thence up to Jaffna, and down toManaar and Kalpitiya (Calpentyn) Bay on the west. 

 On the south coast it is to be found in tolerable numbers in June, July, and August, as well as during the 

 north-east monsoon ; but all the specimens I saw at the former period, and which were chiefly frequenting 

 the salt lagoons and marshes near the coast, were in winter plumage, and were evidently non-breeding birds. 

 In the Triucomalie district it is plentiful at the beginning of September, and I noticed some birds still in 

 breeding-plumage, from which I infer that it may perhaps nest in the island. In the Jaffna peninsula it is 

 a very abundant species, frequenting the lakes and the islands to the westward of the mainland, as well as the 

 lagoons in the interior, where it consorts with the Marsh-Tern. Down the west coast as far as Manaar it is 

 equally plentiful, and it occurs again abundantly in Calpentyn Bay ; but southward of this point its numbers 

 decrease, and it is uncommon about Colombo. Though found about inundated paddy-fields in the maritime 

 regions, it does not stray far inland, except where there are large tanks at no great distance from the sea, such 

 as Kanthelai or the Giants' tank near Manaar. 



Though an abundant species in India, it does not frequent the islands on either side of the peninsula 

 except as a straggler, not having been seen on the Laccadives, and only once having been recorded from the 

 Andamans, where Capt. Wimberley procured it in November. Jerdon states that it is found in marshes, tanks, 

 and rivers in the interior; but it appears that this applies chiefly to districts on the sea-board. In the Deccan 

 it is rare, a few remaining in the summer ; at Bombay it is very common, and it is presumably so on the 

 eastern side of the peninsula, as Mr. Ball states that it is found on tidal rivers in the Godaveri-Gauges district. 

 It is common further north about Calcutta and in Furreedpore ; and on the eastern side of the Bay Dr. Arm- 

 strong found it the same in the Irrawaddy delta, whence it extends along the coast as far south as Mergui, 

 irequenting creeks and the sea-coast as well. Towards the west of India, we find it common in jheels, lakes, 

 and large rivers in Guzerat, Cutch, Kattiawar, and Jodhpoor. In Sindh it does not appear to be widely 

 spread, as the only places in which Mr. Hume met with it abundantly were the Muncher Lake and Kurrachee 

 harbour. It is a winter visitor to the North-west Provinces; but in the Punjab some remain to breed, as 



