STERMA GALEEICULATA, ELEGANT TEEN. 671 



name had better rest, at least until it is certain there is no other large species of Trop- 

 ical America to which it can apply. Besides, the name maxima involves an iDucciiracy. 

 Gamble's name, regia, is perfectly definite. I quote S. erijtlirorhynchos as doubtless con- 

 specific with regia, but should not be surprised if some varietal distinctions were found 

 in this case. <S. cliloripoda Vieill. I can make nothing of. 



My personal observations on this species are confined to the coast of 

 North Carolina ; on a former occasion I gave the following account : 

 This Tern certainly breeds somewhere in the vicinity of Fort Macon ; 

 for, although I did not find any nests, I saw it constantly through two 

 summers, and occasionally noticed birds so young that they were still 

 receiving attentions from their parents ; while in Jnne and July small 

 flocks were often noticed pursuing so straight a course for long distances, 

 that I had no doubt they were passing directly between their nests and 

 their feeding-places. It commonly arrives from the south early in April, 

 and through this and the next month is more abundant than at other 

 times until the fall — a part, I presume, passing further north. It 

 becomes numerous again in September, and .so contiuues until the end 

 of November. I cannot say whether or not any remain all winter, but 

 think that, if observed at that season, it will be an exceptional case. It 

 is more wary than any of the other Terns, and is always the first to rise 

 among the miscellaneous troops that fleck the sand-bars. It is conspic- 

 uous by its size and bright red billj and the young are easily distinguished 

 by the smaller size, yellow instead of red bill, and spotted plumage. 

 The old birds lose the black pileum in September, the crown then 

 becoming white, bordered behind by the long, loose blackish feathers of 

 the occiput, and a few other dark ones on the sides of the head. The 

 bill in winter is not so vivid in color as in summer, and much shorter. 

 All the changes of the old are finished by October ; but the young 

 remain blotched, and with mere traces of the pearl-blue mantle, all the 

 fall. I took one old bird with the feet curiously mottled with yellowish 

 and black, and yellow claws — probably a pathological state, although 

 the bird appeared perfectly healthy. These are vigorous, spirited birds, 

 showing good fight when captured, and strong enough to bite pretty 

 severely. Their voice is loud and raucous, though still without the deep 

 guttural intonation of that of the Shearwaters. 



STERNA (THALASSEUS) GALEEICULATA, Licht. 



Elegant Tern. 



Sterna galericnlaia, Licht., Verz. 1823, 81 (Brazil).— Schl., Mus. P.-B. Sterna;, p. 7.— 



FiNSCii, Abh. Nat. 1870, 359 (Mazatlan).— ScL. & Salv., P. Z. S. 1871, 568.— 



Codes, Key, 1872, 319. 

 (?) nialasseus galcriculatiis, Blas., J. f. 0. 1866, 82. 

 Sta-na elegans, Game., Pr. Phila. Acad, iv, 1848, 129 (immature).— Lawr., B. N. A. 1858, 



860.— Bd., B. N. a. 1860, pi. 94.— Le6t., Ois. Trinidad, 542. 

 Thalasseiis elegans, Gajib., Journ. Phila. Acad, i, 2d series. 1849, 228.- Bp., Conipt. Eend. 



1856, 772.— CoUES, Pr. Phila. Acad. 1862, 540.— Coues, Ibis, 1864, 389 (San 



Salvador).— Salv., Ibis, 1866, 198. 

 Sterna comata, Phil. & Lands., Wieg. Arch. 1888, 126 {Scl. & Sah:). 

 "Sterna cayennenm, Pelz., O. B." (err. for this spec, jffde Scl. & Sala'., P. Z. S. 1671, 565). 

 (?) " Sterna cristata, Sw." 



flfflJ.— Middle and South America. Up the Pacific coast froin Peru (Frohecn) to Cali- 

 fornia (GamSeZ). Tehuantepeo (SumicJirast). Trinidad (Leotaud). Brazil {LiclitensUin). 

 Not observed on the Gulf or Atlantic coast of the United States. 



Adult, winter plumage.— {^o. 24281, Mus. Smith. Inst., from San Francisco, Cal.; the 

 type of the above-cited plate.) Bill much longer than the head, exceeding the tarsus, 

 middle toe and claw together; much compressed, very slender, its tip attenuated. 

 Culmen quite straight to beyond the nostrils, then slighily and equably convex for the 

 rest of its length ; broad basally, more compressed and transversely convex anteriorly. 

 Commissure declinato-convex for nearly its whole length. Mandibular rami very short, 

 decidedly concave in outline, their aUgle of divergence very acute. Gonys extremely 



