650 MR. H. SAUNDERS ON THE SIERNIN^E. [June 20, 



Middendorff's specimens onlv, H. S.) ; Bias. J. f. Orn. 1866, p. 59 ; 

 Gray, Hand-list, iii. p. 118 (1871). 



In its slender shape and grey-tinted underparts this species seems 

 to connect the preceding with S. macrura ; the feet, however, are 

 brown ; and the bill is black in the breeding-season, and probably at 

 other times. But authentic specimens in immature plumage are still 

 desiderata, although I can refer to no other species a specimen ob- 

 tained by Mr. "Wallace in New Guinea. Lord Walden's collection 

 contains a specimen from Yeso, the most northern of the Japanese 

 islands ; and thence it reaches as far west as Lake Baikal, where, 

 as before observed, S. tibetana is also found ; indeed many of the 

 specimens sold by the Paris dealers as S. longipennis are really the 

 latter species. 



Sterna macrura, Naum. 



Sterna hirundo (in part), Linn. Syst. Nat. p. 227 (1766), id. 

 F. S. p. 55. no. 158; Gray, Hand-list, iii. p. 118 (1871) ; Sharpe & 

 Dresser, B. Europe, xii. (1872). 



Sterna macrura, Naum. Isis, 1819, p. 1847; Coues, P. Phil. 

 Acad. 1862, p. 549 ; id. B. N.W. Am. p. 685 (1874). 



Sterna arctica, Temm. Man. d'Orn. ii. p. 742 (1820). 



Sterna brachypus, Swainson, B. W. Afr. ii. p. 152 (1837) ; Gray, 

 Hand-list, iii. p. 118 (1871). 



Sterna pikei, Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. vi. p. 3 (1853); id. Baird's 

 B. N. Am. p. 853, pi. 95 (1858); Grav, Hand-list, iii. p. 118 

 (1871). 



Sterna paradisea, Briinn., Schlegel, Mus. P.-B. Sterna, p. 15 

 (1863) ; Bias. J. f. Orn. 1866, p. 74. 



" Sterna senegalensis, Sw.," Schlegel, Mus. P.-B. Sterna, p. 16 

 (1863) (no. 1 sp. examined, H. S.). 



Sterna portlandica, Ridg. Am. Nat. viii. p. 433 (1874); Coues, 

 B. N.W. Am. p. 691 (1874). (Other unimportant synonyms are 

 intentionally omitted). 



It is true that the mere description of Sterna hirundo given by 

 Linnaeus suits the Arctic Tern as regards the colour of the bill, 

 which is properly described as "rubrum," and as "coccineum" in 

 the ' Faun. Suec.,' whereas in the Common Tern the red bill is some- 

 what tipped with horn-colour. In the references to former authors 

 and in the context, especially where he says "habitat ubique ad 

 lacus et stagna," there is, on the other hand, a stronger probability 

 of Linnaeus' s bird being the Common Tern, a species abundant in 

 Sweden, and which is far more in the habit of frequenting inland 

 waters than the Arctic Tern. Since the time when the two species 

 were discriminated, first by Naumann, and in the following year by 

 Temminck, the names of S. macrura and S. arctica have been 

 generally adopted for the Arctic Tern, the latter being, perhaps, the 

 more widely recognized, until the late Mr. G. R. Gray, and after- 

 wards Messrs. Sharpe and Dresser, in one of the early Parts of the 

 ' Birds of Europe,' on which they were then jointly engaged, con- 

 sidered it advisable to shift the time-sanctioned name of S. hirundo 

 [14] 



