STERNA SINENSIS. 



(THE WHITE-SHAFTED TERNLET.) 



Sterna sinensis, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 608 (1788), ex " Latham " ; Saunders, P. Z. S. 1876, 



p. 662 ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1879, p. 116 (List Ind. B.). 

 Sterna minuta, Linn., Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. 1821, xiii. p. 198. 

 Sternida minuta (Gm.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 292 (1849, in part) ; Layard, Ann. 



& Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 271 ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 840 (1864, in part). 

 Sternida sinensis (Gm.), Swinhoe, Ibis, 1863, p. 430; id. P. Z. S. 1871, p. 422; Holdsw. 



P. Z. S. 1872, p. 481; Legge, P. Z. S. 1875, p. 377; id. Str. Feath. 1875, p. 377, e 



1876, p. 246; id. Ibis, 1875, p. 407 ; David & Oust. Ois. de la Chine, p. 527 (1877). 

 Sternida placens, Gould, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1871, viii. p. 192 ; id. B. of N. Guinea, 



pt. iii. pi. 7 (1876). 

 Chinese Tern, Latham ; TJie Lesser Indian Tern of some. 



Characteristics. Stout, black-tipped yellow bill ; long tail, deeply forked; whitish rump and tail; 1st two 

 quills black, the 1st with a white shaft, the 2nd with a pale shaft, having a white streak along the centre; 

 primary-coverts pale grey. 



Adult male and female (summer, Ceylon). Length 9'2 to 10-5 inches, according to length o£ outer tail-feathers ; wing 

 6 - 8 to 7 - 3 ; tail (in perfect specimens) 4-0 to'4 - 3, outer tail-feather 1-6 longer than the adjacent, and 2-2 longer 

 than the central pair ; tarsus 065 to 07 ; middle toe 053 to 0-56, claw (straight) 0-45 : bill at front 1-2 to 1-3. 

 Lateral tail-featbers much attenuated. Females are slightly smaller than males. 



Iris hazel-brown ; bill gamboge-yellow, sometimes without a dark tip, but generally with more or less of the tips of 

 both mandibles, for a distance of 0-35 inch, black ; legs and feet orange-yellow. In some females the legs are 

 dusky orange. 



Summer plumage (Minery). Crown, occiput, nape and its sides, down to the level of the lower edge of the eye, as 

 also a broad band from the nostril-membrane to the eye, black ; forehead white, passing in a point above the eye 

 to about its centre ; mantle, scapulars, and wings very delicate blue-grey, paling to white on the upper tail- 

 coverts and tail, and almost into the same on the hind neck ; first two primaries black, with the inner margins 

 white, and also the shaft of the 1st quill, that of the 2nd white along the centre ; remaining primaries delicate 

 grey, frosted on the outer webs, their shafts whitish ; first two primary covert-feathers blackish grey ; secondaries 

 with white outer margins near the tips ; all beneath white. In some specimens the under tail-coverts next the 

 vent are tinged with grey. 



Winter plumage (Hankow, China). Bill brownish yellow ; legs and feet dusky yellow ; outer tail-feathers not 



attenuated, 1 inch longer than the adjacent pair. 

 Forehead and crown white, shading into the black of the nape ; sides of the crown behind the eye black, joining with 



that of the nape ; lores just in front of the eye blackish. The black head is assumed about April in Ceylon. 



Young, in down (Hambantota, June). Bill fleshy red, with dusky tip ; legs and feet fleshy red ; ground-colour of the 

 upper surface rufescent whitish, with three dark stripes over the crown ; upper surface mottled with black ; 

 beneath dusky whitish. 



Male, soon after flying. "Wing 4'5 inches ; bill at front 0-65. Bill, lower mandible and edge of upper fleshy yellow, 

 culmen and tip cf lower mandible dusky ; legs and feet dingy yellow. 



A black spot immediately in front of the eye ; lores mouse-grey, tinged with tawny over the crown, which, with the 

 nape and the space behind the eye, is black, edged, except on the latter part, with fulvescent, the black passing 

 into the grey of the forehead ; hind neck, back, scapulars, and tertials yellowish tawny, with black oval-shaped 

 markings and dark centres ; wing-coverts slate-grey, the median edged with fulvous yellow, with an adjacent 



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