LARIDAE 



311 



sooty-browu, with whitish forehead, grey head, black bill and lores, 

 and reddish-brown feet ; A. galapagensis of the Galapagos being 

 entirely sooty-black above. A. (Micranous) leucocapillus, with a 

 weaker bill and a white crown, has a somewhat more restricted 

 range ; A. (JL) tenuirostris, with grey lores, ranges from the 

 neighbourhood of Madagascar to Australia ; A. (M.) haiuaiiensis, 

 with lighter upper parts, occurs around the Sandwich Islands. 

 These species make a large flat nest of twigs, leaves, grass, and 

 sea-weed, on trees, bushes, or even on the ground, laying one buftish- 

 white egg with scattered red-brown markings. Several pairs often 

 use one tree. A. (Procelsterna) cinereus, extending from Australia 

 to Chili, and A. (P.) caeruleus of Central Polynesia, are nearly 

 grey above, but the former is white beneath. The egg is ordinarily 

 deposited with little or no nest on a bare rock or on sand. 



In all the rest of the Sub-family the tail is forked instead 

 of graduated, though less markedly in Naenia inca of Peru 

 and Chili, which is leaden -grey, with curling white plumes 

 below the eye, red bill and feet. 



The genus Sterna contains the more typical Terns or Sea- 

 Swallows, of which the coloration — unless subsequently mentioned 

 — is grey above, and white or lighter grey beneath and on the tail. 

 S. trudeaui of Brazil, Argentina, and Chili, which strays to the 

 United States, and S. melanauchen, ranging from the Amirante 

 and Seychelles Islands to the Liu Kiu group and Polynesia, are 

 the only two species with the crown white in place of black in 

 the breeding season ; the former bird has a black streak through 

 the eye, the latter a band from the lores to the nape. 



S. minuta, the Lesser Tern, breeds in many parts of Britain, 

 and extends from about lat. 60° N. in Europe to the Medi- 

 terranean, the Caspian, and North India, migrating to South 

 Africa, Burma, and Java. It has a white forehead and belly, black 

 lores, orange feet, and yellow bill with black tip. The two or 

 three whitish or drab eggs, marked with grey and black, differ 

 strikingly from those of the Common Tern and its allies. The 

 larger S. sinensis occurs from Bengal and Ceylon to Japan, New 

 Guinea, and Australia ; the greyer-rumped ;S'. antillarum, the 

 Least Tern, from northern South America to California and New 

 England,or exceptionally to Labrador and West Africa; S.saundersi, 

 with nearly black outer primaries, from East Africa to Burma. 

 S. superciliaris, with yellow beak, is peculiar to eastern South 



