WHITE-WINGED TERN. 709 



DiAG. H. nigra, palUo acMstaceo-nigro, caiitld criaaoqiie allis, ant'^brachiis alhicaniibus, alis 

 plumbcis, i-emigibus argenlato-fuscis rliauliidibua albh, rosiro r.ubescente-nigro, pedibus 

 riibris. 



Sab. — Europe, &c. Accidental iu North America (one instance known). 



Jdiilt, summer plumage. — (No. 66213, Mus. Smiths. Inst. 9 , Lake Koskonong, Wiscon- 

 sin, July 5, 1873, T. Kumlein.) Bill hlack, with a rcdOish tinge ; feet red ; c]aw.s black. 

 Head and neck all around and whole under parts (o the crissum pure black, shading 

 on the back and scapulirs into dark slaty-plumbeous. Wings dark silxery-plumbeous, 

 foding into white along the tore-arm border; the quills silvered dusky, with white 

 shafts and a dull white area on the greater part of the inner webs of the prinjarie.s. 

 Lining of wings sooty-blackish, varied with dull white along the border. Tail, with 

 its coverls, both above and below, white, abruptly contrastiug with the blaclv of the 

 helly and the dark slate of the rump. The tail feathers shaded with pearly-gray to- 

 ward the ends. 



Length (of skin), 8 ; wing, 7.50 ; tail, 2.7'5 ; the eraargination undSr 0.50 ; bill along 

 culmeu, 0.90; aloug gape, 1.20; height iit base, 1.20; tarsus, 0.7.j; middle toe and 

 claw, 0.87. 



The scries of specimens before mo does not fully illustrate the changes of plumage 

 of this species. It shows, however, that the various plumages are closely coincident 

 with those of H. lariformis, already detailed. Immature birds, plumbeous aljove and 

 mostly white beneath, may be recognized from the same stage of JS. luriforiiiis by the 

 hoary-white fore-arm border of the wing, and contrast of white upper tail-coverts with 

 the plumbeous of the back. 



As stated in the Check-list, p. 137, a specimen of White- winged Tern 

 ■was taken in "Wisconsin, July 5, 1873, by Mr. Thure KuQilein, and pre- 

 sented to the Smithsonian by Dr. T. M. Brewer. The individual is a 

 female, in perfect breeding dress, and was said to have contained well- 

 formed eggs iu the ovary, leading to the belief that it would have 

 bred in the vicinity before loug. This, so far as I know, is the first and 

 only instance of the occurrence of the species in this country. I have 

 carefully compared the specimen with EuroiJeau ones, finding it identi- 

 cal in every particular. • 



Section JlBGALOPTERE^E. 



I have already presented the character of ibe " Noddy " group of Terns, as drawn 

 from the, leading genus, ^«o«s. Beside this principal lorm, with its several species, 

 there are two others, namely, Na'nia* and Proci'hta"na\. The last named is cinereous, 

 and very near Anous ; the former is unique, in possession of long, white, curly plumes 

 on each side of the head. GyglsX is a peculiar intei-mediate genus, pure white, with a 

 singularly shaped bill. Anous alone occurs in this country. 



Genus AXOUS, Leach. 



< Sterna, Linn., Syst. Nat. i, 1758, iiec 1735. 



< Garia, Bkiss., Orn. vi, 1760, 199, nee Mohr. — Sw., Classif. B. iij 1837, 373 (siolida). 

 " Xodinus, Raf., lylo :'" (Gray). 



= Noddi, Cuv.,^R. A. i, 1817, 521 (stolida). 



= Anous, Leach, Steph. Gen. Zool. xiii, 1826, 139 {slolida). 



= Megalopterus, IBoiE, Isis, 1826, 980 (stoltda). 



= Stolida, Less., Tr. Orn. 1831, 620 {stolida). 



= Aganaphron, Gloger, 1842. (Gray.) 



Gen. Chab. Bill nuich longer than the tarsus, rath'er exceeding the middle toe aud 

 claw, about equaling the head, moderately robust, depressed, and as broad as high at 



'N^NIA, Boie. Isis, 18J.9, 189 (=Larosterna, Bi,yth, Cat. Asiat. Soc. 1849, 293 = i'iiC((, 

 Jard., Contr. Orn. 1850, 31). 



NvExiA INCA. — sterna inca, Less., Voy. Coqnille, 1826, 731, pi. 47; Anous inca. Gray, 

 Gen. of B. iii, 1849, 661 ; Laroslerna inea, Blyth, I. c. ; Inea mystacalis, Jard., I. c 



Hab. — South America (Peru and Chili). 



t Procelsterxa, Lafr., Rev. Zool. 1841, 242. The several nominal species of this 

 section may be reduced to two at most ; I have recognized but one. South Seas and 

 Australia. 



i Gygis, Wagl., 1832; type alba. The single species inhabits the South Seas. 



