BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 487 
aa. Back, scapulars, and wings (also rump, upper tail-coverts, and six to ten middle 
rectrices) deep gray or blackish; inner webs of primaries wholly dusky. 
b. Back, etc., deep brownish gray (quaker drab), paler and grayer toward hindneck, 
the latter white, grayish white or pale gray. (Sterna anxtheta.) 
c. Under parts distinctly tinged with gray; hindneck light gray or grayish white; 
lateral retrices extensively brownish gray distally, this involving whole 
width of outer as well as inner web. (Philippine Archipelago and China 
SOO eiesais outa Sinema ieee Sterna anztheta anztheta (extralimital).¢ 
cc, Under parts not distinctly if at all tinged with gray (practically white); hind- 
neck white; lateral rectrices with very little brownish gray, this on terminal 
portion only and involving only inner portion of outer web or restricted to 
inner web. 
d. Larger, with stouter bill (wing 251-274, tail 147.5-188, tarsus 19-22.5, middle 
toe 22-25 mm. 
e. Larger, with relatively longer or more slender bill (wing 260-274, tail 163- 
178, culmen 36-44 mm.); under parts of body faintly but distinctly tinged 
with gray. (Pacific coast of Mexico and Central America.) 
Sterna anetheta nelsoni (p. 514). 
ee, Smaller, with relatively shorter or stouter bill (wing 251-263, tail 147-174, 
culmen 38-41 mm.); under parts of body pure white. (Caribbean Sea, 
Gulf of Mexico, and adjacent waters, north to Bahamas, etc.) 
Sterna anetheta recognita (p. 512). 
dd Smaller, with more slender bill (wing 206, tail 141, culmen 40, tarsus 18, 
middle toe 20.5 mm.). (Indian Ocean, west to Seychelles.) 
Sterna anaetheta antarctica (extralimital). 
bb. Back, etc., blackish brown or brownish black, the hindneck also blackish; 
young with under parts sooty brown. (Onychoprion.—Sterna fuscata.) — 
@ Sterna anaethetus Scopoli, Del. Florae et Faunae Insubr., ii, 1786, 92 (Panay Island, 
Philippine Archipelago); Saunders, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxv, 1896, 101, part.— 
Melanosterna anzxthetus anethetus Mathews, Birds of Australia, ii, pt. 4, Nov. 1, 1912, 
402.—Haliplana anxtheta Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1871, 422 (Pescadero 
Islands, China Sea).—_{Sterna] panaya Latham, Index Orn., ii, 1790, 808 (Panay, 
Philippines).—Sterna panaya Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat., xxxii, 1819, 173.— 
[Sterna] panayensis Gmelin, Syst. Nat., i, pt. ii, 1789, 607 (Panay Island, Philippines).— 
Sterna panayensis Schlegel, Mus. Pays.-Bas, vi, no. 24, 1864, 26.—Sterna panayana 
Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1870, 603 (Hakodadi, Japan.—(?) Haliplana keri 
Boie, Isis, 1844, 190 (Japan). - ~ 
b, Sterna antarctica Lesson, Traité d’ Orn., 1831, 621 (Ile de France= Mauritius, near 
Madagascar, and Calcutta, India)—Melanosterna anxthetus antarctica Mathews, Birds 
Australia, ii, pt. 4, Nov. 1, 1912, 402 (Seychelles; Mauritius; Laccadive Islands).— 
Sterna melanoptera Swainson, Birds West Africa, ti, 1837, 249 (West Africa; coll. Mus. 
Cambridge, England).—Sterna anztheta (not S. anaethetus Scopoli) Saunders, Cat. 
Birds Brit. Mus., xxv, 1896, 101, part.—Sterna anzthetus Ridgway, Proc. U. 8. Nat. 
Mus., xvili, 1896, 510 (Mahé, Seychelles).— (?) Onychoprion anasthetus Walden, 
Ibis, 1874, 149 (South Andaman, Andaman Islands).—Sterna panaya (not of Latham) 
Fischer and Reichenow, Journ. fiir Orn., 1878, 247 (East Africa). 
In addition to the subspecies given above, Mathews recognizes the following: 
Sterna anetheta nove-hollandie (Melanosterna anethetus nove-hollandizx 
Mathews, Birds of Australia, ii, pt. 4, Nov. 1, 1912, 397, 401; Australian seas). 
Sterna anetheta fuligula (Melanosterna anxthetus fuligula Mathews, Birds of 
Australia, ii, pt. 4, Nov. 1, 1912, 402; Red Sea). 
I have not seen specimens of either of these forms. . 
