1020 STERNA SINENSIS. 



blackish border ; quills dark silvery grey, the first two visibly darker than the rest and with whitish shafts ; tail 

 pale slate-grey, tipped broadly with tawny yellowish, which is set off by a black border; beneath white. 

 Before the young fly the tawny-yellow coloration is isabelline grey, almost reddish. 



About three weeks older than the above. Wing fi-4 inches, reaching 1-0 beyond the tail, which is forked to a depth 

 of 0-75. 



Iris brown ; bill brownish yellow, gape and base of lower mandible dingy yellow ; legs and feet dusky yellow, joints 

 and sides of the webs brownish. 



Forehead still mouse-grey, the feathers of the crown margined with fulvous, those of the nape slightly tipped with it ; 

 a whitish stripe above the black loral spot ; the marginal coloration of the mantle not so tawny, but greyer ; 

 wing-coverts bluish grev ; the lesser series dark grey, and the median with the edges fulvous grey; rump and 

 upper tail-coverts pale slaty, the lateral feathers white; tail-feathers whitish, the central pair slaty grey, the 

 lateral pair unmarked, the blackish markings at the tips of the remainder modified into elongated spots. 



By degrees the feathers of the occiput and nape become black, and the forehead and margins of the coronal feathers 

 white; the back-feathers are moulted slowly to blue-grey, the colour of the 1st winter, but the tail and wing- 

 feathers are retained, as in other species ; and specimens are shot at the end of the year in this mixed plumage. 

 The bill is blackish, tinged with yellow then ; the legs and feet dusky yellow. 



Obs. The colour of the first two primaries varies a little, owing to exposure, which wears off the bloom of the first, 

 and gives it a darker appearance than the second (see variety a, P. Z. S. 1875, p. 377). The bill, though varying 

 somewhat in stoutness, has always a more pronounced gonys than the next species. It does not assume its 

 normal shape and sharp tips until the bird is about five months old. Chinese specimens before me are slightly 

 darker on the back than Ceylonese. A small series varies in measurement as follows : — wing 6-7 to 7 - 2 inches ; 

 bill to gape 1-5 to 1*7; outer tail-feathers in an April specimen, in full breeding-plumage, 2-0 longer than the 

 adjacent pair. An example from Celebes measures — wing 7'5 inches ; tail 4-5 ; bill to gape T7. 



The Australian Little Tern (Sterna nereis, Gould) has the bill very straight and highly compressed and the gonys 

 very long, the tip blackish ; legs and feet yellow. The lores are white, with merely a black spot in front of the 

 eye ; upper surface exceedingly pale ; tail white and deeply forked ; and the primaries silvery grey, with the 

 1st quill dark just adjacent to the shaft, which, with those of the others, is pure white. A specimen before me 

 measures — wing 6'5 inches; tail 3'8 ; bill to gape T7. 



As the Black-naped Tern, St. melanauchen, is not unlikely to occur in Ceylon, I here subjoin a description from 

 Chinese specimens : — 



Adult (China). Wing 8-5 to 9-0 inches ; tail 5-5 to 6-0 ; tarsus 0-7 ; middle toe 0-0 j bill to gape 1-75 to 2-0 ; 

 outer tail-feathers 3-5 to 3 - 8 longer than middle pair. Bill very slender. (Mr. Hume gives the length of 24 

 Andaman specimens as 12-9 to 14-5 inches ; weight 2-7 to 3-75 oz.) 



Iris brown ; bill blackish ; legs and feet black. 



Head, crown, hind neck, entire under surface with the under wing pure white ; a black band passes from the middle 

 of the lores to the eye, widens behind it, and passes in a crescentic shape round the occiput, where it develops 

 into a short crest ; back and upper tail-coverts very delicate grey; the wing-coverts slightly darker ; the quills 

 white, faintly shaded with the palest grey, and with the outer web of the 1st dark grey. In freshly killed 

 individuals the under surface is adorned with a beautiful roseate hue. 



Distribution. — The White-sliafted Ternlet is a very abundant species on the south-western, eastern, and 

 northern coasts of Ceylon, but is chiefly noticeable during the breeding-season, when large numbers congregate 

 together in certain localities to rear their young. Whether they, to a great extent, leave the island during the 

 cool season, or are so scattered along the whole sea-board that one does not take notice of them, I am not quite 

 prepared to say ; but I incline to the former hypothesis, as in some places where they are numerous in the 

 breeding-season, they are rarely seen between the months of November and April. In the nesting-time it is 

 chiefly found about salt lagoons and backwaters and on contiguous portions of the coast ; in such localities 

 it is common from Hambantota to Batticaloa, and from Triucomalie to Jaffna. During my residence at 

 Triiicomalie I seldom noticed it either on the lagoons about the Fort or in Kottiar Bay until March, after 

 which it steadily increased in numbers till May, when the majority disappeared for their breeding-grounds on 

 the shores of salt lakes. It extends inland at this season, and breeds in considerable numbers at large tanks, 

 such as Kanthelai, Minery, Girentala, and other sheets of water which are deep, well supplied with fish, and 



