STERNA FULIGINOSA. 



(THE SOOTY TERN.) 



Sterna fuliginosa, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 605(1788); Temm. & Schl. Faun. Jap. p. 133, 

 pi. 89 (1842) ; Finsch & Hartl. Orn. Centralpolyn. p. 225~ (1867) ; Sperling, Ibis, 1868, 

 p. 286; Saunders, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 660, et 1877, p. 790; Hume, Str. Feath. 1876, 

 p. 477; Dresser, B. of Eur. pt. 61, 62 (1877); Hume, Str. Feath. 1879, p. 116 (List 

 B. of Ind.). 



Onychoprion fuliginosus (Gm.), Gould, B. of Austr. vii. p. 32 (1848); Sclater & Salvin, 

 P. Z. S. 1S71, p. -572; Hume, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 140 (first record from Ceylon); 

 Salvadori, Uccelli di Borneo, p. 373 (1874). 



Hydrochelidini infuscata (Licht.), Heuglin, Orn. N.Ost-Afr. ii. p. 1457 (1873). 



Haliplana fuliginosa (Gm.), David & Oust. Ois. de la Chine, p. 528 (1877). 



Wide-awake of sailors. 



Characteristics. Bill from (/ape not less than 2"2 inches ; black loral stripe oblique ; inner and middle toes 

 fully webbed. Young brown beneath. 



Adult rnnh an'/ f.,, ad, (Atlantic). AVing 11*2 to Ll"8inches; tail 5*5 to 7*0, according to length of outer tail-feather, 

 which is much attenuated; tarsus 0-8 to 0*95 ; middle toe 0-8, its claw - 3S, web of inner and middle extending 

 to r ' G from the tip of the sole of the latter ; bill to gape 2-3. 



Adult maU andfemah (Laccadives). Length 16 - 1 to 17 - 75 inches ; wing 10-G5 to 11-8, expanse 32-5 to 3.j-2o ; tarsus 



09 tn 0*93 : lull from gape 2-3 to 2*4, at front 1-6 to 1-7. Weigh! of the largest specimen 8 oz. (Hume.) 

 Iris deep brown, almost black ; bill, legs, and feet black. 



Breeding-plumagi i Ascension l. 1 [ead and nape deep glossy black, the colour extending to within 0*3 inch of the base 

 of the bill, and covering the sides of the head and upper part of the hind neck down to the level of the lower 

 eyelid ; forehead and upper part of the lores white, narrowing to a point above the centre of the eye, and leaving 

 a border of black J^ inch wide, which descends as a broad oblique stripe to the gape; entire upper surface and 

 wings black-brown, darkening into black on the least wing-coverts, which are set off by a white border round the 

 edge of the wing ; outer web of lateral tail-feathers white, the inner greyish white, passing into brown at some 

 distance from the tip ; entire under surface white, sullied slightly with grey on the breast and abdom.-n. 



}'. ung, nestling in down < Ascension I. Above mingled grey and brown, the tips of the down being of the latter colour, 



which is most conspicuous on the sides of the back, forming two stripes with a white interspace ; forehead brown; 



head whitish, mingled with jet-black down, the whole being stiff and pointed, and not " decomposed,"' as on the 



lark ; wings as the back ; beneath uniform whitish. 

 The young vary ; two specimens from Houtmann's Abrolhos do not possess the white patch on the centre of the back, 



ami one is much more closely mottled and altogether darker than the other. 



Almost completely fledged bird. -Entire upper surface, sides of the neck and breast, and upper abdomen a deep sooty 

 brown, almost black on the brad and scapulars ; all the scapulars and largest tertials tipped with white, and those 

 of the interscapulary region and all the wing- and upper tail-coverts tipped with rufescent buff." {Hume, 

 Laccadives.) 



Immature, first plumage (Brit. Mus.). Entirely brown, paler beneath and of a chocolate tint, the bases of the feathers 

 white; feathers of the head crossed with minute bars of fulvous; interscapulary region barred with buff-white, 

 the markings increasing in width towards the rump and confined to the tips of the feathers : scapulars and 

 tertials broadly tipped with white ; wing-eo\ erta less so, the least series blackish brown and unmarked ; secondaries 

 and tail-fiat hers tipped with dull white. AYing S'O inches. A younger bird, just fledged, is barred above in the 

 same way, but has the throat whitish, striped with blackish. 



