STEENA MEDIA. 



(THE LESSER CRESTED TERN.) 



Sterna media, Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. 1820, xiii. p. 198;. Von Heuglin, Orn. N.Ost-Afr. 



ii. p. 1430 (1873) ; Legge, Ibis, 1875, p. 408 ; Saunders, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 655 ; Dresser, 



B. of Eur. pts. 71, 72 (1878); Hume, Str. Feath. 1878, p. 493 (B. of Tenass.), et 1879, 



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

 Sterna affinis, Riipp. Atlas, p. 23, pi. 14 (1826). 

 Sterna bengalensis, Lesson, Traite d'Orn. p. 621 (1831) ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 284 ; 



Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 33. 

 Thalasseus torresii, Gould, P. Z. S. 1842, p. 140; id. B. of Austr. vii. pi. 25 (1848). 

 Thalasseus bengalensis (Lesson), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 291 (1849) ; Layard, Ann. 



& Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 270; Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 843 (1864). 

 Thalasseus medius (Horsf.), Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 482. 

 The Allied Tern, The Lesser Sea-Tern, of authors. Toyang Kacher, Java (Horsf.) ; Abu 



queschesch, Arabic (Heuglin). 



Adult male and female, (Ceylon). Length 14-5 to 1075 inches (dependent on the length of the tail in the breeding- 

 season) ; wing 11*3 to 12-4 ; tail 4*8 to 6*25 (fork 2-4 deep in longest) ; tarsus 1-0 to 1*1 ; middle toe and nail 

 1-1 to 1-2 ; bill to gape 2'6 to 3-0, at front 1-9 to 2-2. 



.Females average smaller than males ; the size of the bill varies much in both sexes. 



Iris brown ; bill orange-yellow ; legs and feet black, soles of toes yellowish. 



Breeding-plumage (Ceylon). Entire forehead, lores, and head (to a line with the lower eyelid), occiput, and crest of 14 

 inch in length, glossy black ; lower half of lores, face up to the eye, hind neck, and whole lower surface, inclu- 

 ding the under tail-coverts, edge of and under wing pure white, the breast in some suffused with a very slight 

 rosy hue ; interscapular region, back, tertials, wing-coverts, and tail above very pale blue-grey, blending into the 

 white of the hind neck, the pointed lateral tail-feathers paling almost into white : primaries, when freshly moulted, 

 with their outer webs and terminal portion " frosted " silvery grey, changing into iron-grey on the inner web 

 nest the shaft, the rest being white ; secondaries a slightly deeper grey, with their inner portions and a terminal 

 defined edging white, as in other species. Some time after moult the bloom or frosting fades entirely from the 

 quills, and the grey portion becomes blackish. 



Winter 'plumage. Bill in some as in summer, in others chrome-yellow, sometimes slightly tinged with green. 



Forehead and lores unspotted satiny white ; crown white, the feathers blackish grey in the centre ; on the occiput the 

 white decreases, and the feathers are almost entirely black, as are also the crest and a baud running forward to 

 the eye ; a black border in front of the eye, and in some a few black streaks beneath it ; remainder of the plumage 

 as in the summer, but the tail and its coverts darker grey ; the lateral tail-feathers not quite so long as in summer. 

 Specimens shot in December have not quite completed their winter livery as regards tail and wings ; and by the 

 end of March many examples are to be found with black heads. The amount of black on the crown varies consi- 

 derably, some examples having only the edges of the feathers white in that part. This Tern differs materially from 

 the last in winter plumage in wanting the white edgings to the nape-feathers. 



Young. The immature bird in first winter has the bill paler yellow than in the adult ; the feet and legs sometimes 

 spotted with yellow. — Male (December). Wing 11-0 inches; tarsus 1-0 ; tail 4-2 ; bill at front 1'85. 



Head as in the adult in winter, but the occipital feathers not so elongated and of a brownish-black hue ; scapulars, 

 tertials, and wing-coverts brownish towards the tips, with the edges buff-grey ; the feathers of the back are blue- 

 grey, and have replaced those of the nestling-plumage ; quills blackish grey, " frosted " on the outer webs, and 



