STERNA ANiESTHETA. 



(THE BROWN-WINGED TERN.) 



Sterna ancethetus*, Scop. Del. Flor. et Faun. Ins. i. p. 92 (178G), ex Sonnerat. 



Sterna panayensis, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 607 (1788). 



Onychoprion panayana (Lath.), apud Gould, B. of Austr. vii. pi. 33 (1848). 



Onychoprion anasthaetus (Scop.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 293 (1849) ; Layard, Ann. 



& Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 271 ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 844 (1864); Hume, Str. 



Feath. 1874, p. 320 ; Salvadori, Uccelli di Born. p. 374 (1874). 

 Hydroehelidon anoestlietus, Scop., Heuglin, Orn. N.Ost-Afr. ii. p. 1453 (1873). 

 Sterna anastheta, Scop., Legge, Str. Feath. 1875, p. 377 ; Hume, ibid. 1876, p. 474 ; 



Saunders, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 664; Hume, Str. Feath. 1879, p. 116 (List B. of Ind.). 

 Sterna fidirjinosa, Gm. apud Legge, Str. Feath. 1875, p. 378. 

 Hirondelle de mer de Vile de Panay, Sonn. Voy. N. Gum. pi. 86 (1776); Panayan Tern, 



Lath. ; Brown-winged Noddy of some. 

 Liniya, Sinhalese. 



Characteristics. Loral stripe horizontal from eye to bill ; back paler than the luings ; inner web of foot not 

 extending beyond the last joint of middle toe. Young white beneath. 



Adult male and female ( Ceylon, breeding-plumage). Length 14-0 to 15 - 3 inches ; wing 9'8 to 10-5, expanse 29-0 to 

 3O0 ; tail 6-3 to 7 - 0, outer tail-feathers attenuated and sometimes 2*0 longer than adjacent pair; depth of fork iu 

 such 4-5 ; tarsus - 7 to 0'8 ; middle toe and claw 1*08 to 1*2 : bill to gape 1"9 to 2*1, at front 1-6 to 1/7. 



Iris deep brown ; bill black, extreme tip pale horny ; legs and feet black. 



Forehead and a broad stripe extending over each eye white, the frontal portion being narrower than in the last species : 

 centre of the forehead, crown, occiput, and nape glossy black, descending behind the eye to a level with its lower 

 edge; a broad black baud from the eye straight forward to the bill, and not taking an oblique direction down to 

 the gape ; hind neck greyish white, tinged on the lower part with ashy, and passing into the smoke-brown of the 

 mantle, scapulars, and upper tail-coverts and tail, all of which parts are pervaded with an ashy hue, varying 

 according to the individual ; wing-coverts and tertials darker smoke-brown than the back, edge of the wing white : 

 primaries with their coverts and secondaries blaek-brown, the shafts chocolate-brown, but white beneath ; lateral 

 tail-feathers white, with the exception of the extreme tip and the terminal portion of the inner web ; beneath white, 

 the chest, breast, flanks, and abdomen more or less tinged with ashy grey ; axillaries and under wing pure white. 



Winter plumage ( August, Ceylon). Lores, forehead, front of crown, and over the eye white ; feathers of the crown and 

 occiput edged with white, the centres blackish brown ; nape-feathers finely tipped with white ; a black spot in 

 front of the eye, before which the feathers forming the stripe in summer are greyish ; hind neck slaty, with the 

 margins of the feathers greyish ; feathers of the back, rump, and upper tail-coverts tipped indistinctly with slatv 

 grey ; outer webs of the lateral tail-feathers dark for 2| inches or more from the tip ; under surface pure white. 

 Iu some examples with unmarked wing-coverts the mantle-feathers are very broadly tipped with white ; these are 

 probably birds in their second winter. 



Specimens shot in April and May are in change, acquiring the black loral and coronal feathers. Many are, however, 

 iu full breeding-plumage by the end of April. 



Young (October and November, Colombo). Length 12-0 to 13-5 inches ; wing 9 - 8 to 1O0 ; tail 5'0 to 5-5; tarsus - 8 ; 



middle toe 09, claw (straight) 03; bill to gape 2-0 to 2-15. 

 Iris brown ; bill black, inside of mouth white ; legs and feet livid brown, in some bluish brown. 



* The omission of the "s" is doubtless a printer's error, and should not be followed now. 



