STEENA PORTLANDICA, PORTLAND TEEN. 691 



of Noith America, and consequently no comparisons need be made. The young bird- 

 of-tbe-year resembles a good deal tbe same age of macruni, so miicb so tbat Naumann 

 is at considerable pains to contradistinguiab tbeni. As the bird is tbeii smaller than 

 T\'ben adult, with a very short tail, ftesh-colored or reddish bill ; and as tbe macrura ia 

 then pure white below, they might perhaps be confounded. S. doiigaUi is, ho\vc\er, at 

 once to be known by the different character of its more persistent and larger pileum ; 

 much lighter color of the upper parts, and lighter and more obsolete and indistinct 

 color of its spots, when young enough to have any ; the lighter color of the web of 

 its exterior tail-featber ; much shorter wings and larger and longer feet, &.c. 



I have been unable to detect any difference between numerous examples of this spe- 

 cies from Europe and America. 



Though this species has often of late years been called " pvadisea'' yet the ques- 

 tioEiible identification of Briinnich's name had probably best give way to that one to 

 which no doubt attaches. 



STERNA POETLANDIGA, Eidgw."^ 

 Portland Tern. 



sterna partlandica, Eidgw., Am. Nat. viii, 1874, 433. 



AdidtCi), Slimmer plumage.— (So. 64394, Mus. Smith. Inst., Portland, Maine, July, 1S73, 

 F. Benntr ; type of the species, as described I. c). Forehead, sides of head, neck .all 

 around, upper tail-coverts, and whole under parts, including lining of wings, pure 

 white. Occiput, crown from opposite eyes, and space around eye, slaty-black. Man- 

 tle an average shade of pearl-gray. A slaty bar along cubit.al edge of wing. Prima- 

 ries light-silvered duskj', with white shaft, tbe outer web of the i:rst black, tbe inner 

 webs of all with large and. long white space, which occupies the whole width of the 

 web at base, and on the first reaches nearly to the tip. Tail white, with light pearly 

 shade; the outer web of the outer feather dusky. Bill and feet black, but the latter 

 with a perceptible reddishness. Bill in size and shape identical with that of a young 

 dougalli. Feet very small (just as in maanira) ; the t.arsus notably shorter than the 

 middle toe and claw. Length, about 12.50 (tail defective ; size apparently of dougalli) ; 

 wing, 9.75; tail, 5 (with perhaps an inch gone) ; the fork, 2.25 (probably over 3) ; bill, 

 along cnlmen, 1.20; along gape, 1.60 ; tarsus, only 0.60 ; middle toe and claw, d.'iD. 



The subject of the present article differs materially from any other 

 Tern I have seen. I cannot refer it to any species known to me. It 

 apparently comes nearest dougalli, vrith which it is to be particularly 

 compared. I will first observe that, though shot in July, it is by no 

 means certain that it is an adult bird; in fact the chances are the other 

 way. The white of the forehead is not a firm, sharp lunule, but, on the 

 contrary, an indefinite restriction of a black cap to the vertex and occi- 

 put, the black and white shading gradually into each other. The pat- 

 tern of the head is identical with that of a specimen of undoubted 

 dougalli before me. Another strong mark of immaturity is seen in the 

 slaty bar along the cubital border of the wing. This is also precisely 

 as in the specimen of dougalli just mentioned. The pure white of the 

 whole under parts and of the cervix, as well as the size of the white 

 areas on the inner webs of the primaries, are exactly as in dongalU. 

 The bill, in size, shape, and color, is identical with that of dougalli. So 

 far we see nothing incomi^atible with the characters of dougalli. But 

 ia doug(illi the mantle is extremely pale pearly, extending uninterrupted 

 over the rump and tail ; in portlandica the mantle is about as in hinmdo, 

 and the rump is white. (However, a winter specimen of dougalli has the 

 mantle scarcely paler than ia ;portlandica.) In dougalli the feet are coral- 

 red or orange, obscured in the young in winter, and the tarsi are scarcely 

 or not shorter than in the middle toe and claw ; in portlandica the feet are 

 quite blackish, and the tarsus is 0.25 shorter than the middle toe and 

 claw. In the proportions of the feet, in fact, portlandica is the same as 

 macrura. From macrura, portlandica is at once separated by its black 

 bill and feet, and pure white under parts. 

 If it could be shown that the tarsi of dougalli are ever so short as this, 



