406 LAEID.E. 



white, through cream-colour and pale buff, to brownish-buff. The markings are, as a 

 rule, very bold, and consist of spots and blotches of dark brown approaching black, 

 and underlying inky-purple. Some eggs are delicately marked with only small spots ; 

 others are marked with huge confluent blotches, measuring quite an inch across, and 

 between these two types every combination occurs ^. 



5. Sterna maxima. 



Hirondelle de mer de Cayenne, Daubent. PI. Enl. ix. t. 988 '. 



Sterna maxima, Bodd. Tabl. PI. Enl. p. 58'; Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1871, p. 567' ; Lawr. Mem. 



Bost. Soc. N. H. ii. p. 318 " ; Boucard, P. Z. S. 1883, p. 462 ' ; Baird, Brewer, & Ridgway, 



Water-Birds N. Amer. ii. p. 284° ; Ferrari-Perez, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. ix. p. 179'; Salvin, 



Ibis, 1889, p. 379' ; A. O. U. Check-1. X. Amer. Birds, 2Dd ed. p. 23'; Saunders, Cat. 



Birds Brit. Mus. xxv. p. 80 " ; Xelson, xs . Amer. Fauna, no. 14, p. 24 " ; Gates, Cat. Eggs 



Brit. Mus. i. p. 187, t. 14. fig. 7 '^ 

 Thalassem maximus, Lawr. Bull. U. S. Xat. Mus. no. 4, p. 51 "; Sumichr. La Nat. v. p. 234". 

 Sterna galericulata, Licht. Preis-Verz. Mex. Yog. p. 3"; Cab. J. f. Orn. 1863, p. 59"; Finsch, 



Abbandl. nat. Ver. Bremen, 1879, p. 359 '' ; Saunders, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxv. 



p. 81, note '". 

 Sterna regia, Gambel, Journ. Acad. Phil. (2) i. p. 228"; Lawr. Ann. Lye. X. Y. ix. p. 210 '" ; 



Zeledon, Cat. Aves Costa "Rica, 1882, p. 36 "'. 

 Thalasseus regius, Coues, Ibis, 1864, p. 388"; Salv. Ibis, 1864, p. 385 ""; 1865, p. 190"; 1866, 



p. 199". 



Ptil. cEStiv. Major ; pileo et loris dimidiatim nigris ; nuchas yalde cristatae plumis acuminatis ; corpore snpra 

 margaritaceo-cinereo ; alls caudaque dorso concoloribus, margine carpali albo ; coUo postico et lateral! 

 cum loris dimidiafcis, facie lateiali et corpore sabtas toto pure albis ; rectricibus intns albidioribns, 

 longioribuB extus albis ; primariis intns albis, extus cum area interna juxta rhachidem albam et apicem 

 versus pogonii intemi scbistaceis vel schistaceo-nigris : rostro aurantiaco-rubro ; pedibus nigris ; iride 

 saturate brunnea. Long, tota circa 19*5, alse 15-2, caudae 3-9, rectrice extima 7-2, culm. 2-55, tarsi 1-3. 

 (Descr. maris adulti ex Chiapam. ilus. nostr.) 



Ptil. Mem. ptilosi aestivae simUis, sed fronte et pUeo antico albis, hoc nigro macnlato ; regione ocnlari et 

 pileo postico cum nucha cristata nigris. Long, tota circa ISO, alae 13-8. (Descr. av. hiem. ex Middle 

 Cay. Mus. nostr.) 



Hah. NoETH Ameeica, casually northward to Massachusetts and the Great Lakes, 

 California, breeding from Virginia southward ^ ^^. — Mexico {Beppe & Schiede ^^ '^^), 

 Mazatlan (BiscJiqff' *, Forrer ^^), Manzanillo, Colima {Lloyd '^^), Guaymas {Pal- 

 mer'^), Isabella I. {Grayson*^ i'^), Tres Marias Is. {Nelson ^^), Gulf of Tehuantepec, 

 San Mateo {Sumichrast ^^ ^*), Jalapa, Rio Rancho Nuevo, Vera Cruz {Ferran- 

 Perez ^ ^°), coast of Yucatan, Rio Lagartos^^^, Cozumel \.^^^ {Gaumer), Merida 

 {Schott 2<^) ; British Hondueas, Cays along the coast ^, Belize -'-, Glover's Reef 2? 

 {0. S.) ; Guatemala, both coasts ^ ^4^ Chiapam 22 23 ^^Q g-^ . Ho^'DUEAS {Dyson ^^) ; 

 Costa Rica {Zeledon 2^). — South Ameeica, both coasts, south to Santa Catherina 

 and Peru ^^ ; West Indies ^^. — West Africa '^^. 



The Royal Tern is a denizen of Eastern North America, breeding from Virginia to 



