STERNA SAUNDERS! 



(THE GREY-RUMPED TERNLET.) 



Sterna sumatrana, Raffles, apud Saunders, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 663 ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1878 



(B. of Tenass.), p. 493. 

 Stemula minuta, Linn., Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 271 (in part) ; Hume, 



Str. Feath. 1876, p. 469. 

 Sterna saundersi, Hume, Str. Feath. 1877, pp. 224, 225 (note) ; id. Str. Feath. 1879, p. 116 



(List B. of Ind.). 



Characteristics. Slender dark bill; short tail; grey rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail; first three quills 

 blackish grey, with blackish shafts. 



Adult male (Ham bant ota, June). Length 6-8 inches ; wing (imperfect) 6-3; tail 2-7, fork 0-6 deep; tarsus 0-65; 

 middle toe 0-49 ; bill at front 1-05, gonys 0-75. 



Iris brown ; bill yellowish brown at base, then dusky yellow, and black at the tip for 0'5 inch ; legs and feet yel- 

 lowish brown, claws black. The bill in this specimen has the appearance of changing to a yellowish hue. 



Crown, occiput, and nape black, as also a broad band from eye to nostril, the boundary of the black behind the eye on 

 a level with the lower edge of the eyelid ; forehead white, extending in a band as far back as the middle of the 

 eye ; back, wings, rump, and upper tail-coverts blue-grey ; tail somewhat paler, the inner webs of all but the central 

 feathers white ; first three primaries greyish black, the inner half of the inner webs white, the shafts jet-black ; 

 remaining primaries and secondaries blue-grey ; all the primary-covert feathers blackish grey ; cheeks, ear-coverts, 

 entire under surface, and under wing pure white. 



Winter plumage (Jaffna, March). Length 8 - l inches ; wing 6-9 ; tail 2-5 ; tarsus 065 ; middle toe and claw 075 ; 



bill at front. 1-2, gonys 0-75. 

 Bill, if any thing, blacker than in the above, there being less of the yellow tint ; legs and feet the same as in summer. 



The bills in some examples at this season are yellower than in others, and all have the appearance of being in a 



state of change to yellow in the basal part. 

 Forehead and front of lores white, passing into greyish on the crown, and thence into blackish on the occiput, nape, 



and the space between the latter part and the eye ; a black spot in front of the eye ; upper surface as in summer ; 



outer tail-feathers white, slightly sullied with grey ; primaries and their coverts as in summer. In old feather 



the 1st primary-shaft is often so bleached by the sun that it is almost pure white ; the 2nd, however, remains 



blackish ; and birds may be procured in the spring while moulting with the 2nd primary new and black-shafted 



and the 1st old and white-shafted. 



Young. The nestling is in all probability indistinguishable from that of the last species. 



Immature, in first plumage (October). Male and female. Length 7 - 9 to S'O inches ; wing 6 - 6 to 6 - 7 ; tail 2"2 to 2-5, 

 depth of fork 0-5 ; bill at front 1-05 to 1-1. 



Bill black, yellowish at gape and along the edge of the lower mandible ; legs and feet yellow-brown, toes darker than 

 web. 



Forehead grey, passing into brownish on the crown and blackish brown on the occiput, nape, and behind the eye, the 

 feathers of these parts tipped with greyish ; hind neck bluish gre3 r ; back and scapulars grey, with white centres 

 and edges, separated by broad brownish pencillings ; rump and tail blue-grey, tinged with brownish ; the outer 

 tail-feather whitish, remainder marked with brownish near the tips ; tertials with pale margins and inner brown 

 borders, breaking into bars on the inner webs ; lesser wing-coverts brown ; median slate-grey, edged with brown ; 

 first six primaries greyish black, the first four with jet-black shafts ; beneath as in the adult. An older specimen 

 has the back mostly blue-grey, with a few blackish-marked feathers, and the dark edgings of the median wing- 

 coverts nearly vanished from abrasion. 



After the acquisition of the grey plumage in the first winter, the dark band along the ulna is the only sign of imma- 

 turity remaining ; the bloom is then worn off the primaries, which are not changed with the clothing-feathers in 

 autumn, and they are very dark, as also their coverts. 



