718 A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



Hainan, Moluccas, New Guinea, Australia, westwards to Burmah 

 and Ceylon ; near Karachi ; east coast of N. America from Massa- 

 chusetts to Mexico, Bahamas, W. Indies to Aruba and Bonaire > 

 Margarita and Trinidad, also north-east Brazil ; west coast of N. 

 America to Guatemala. 



STERNA FUSCATA* 



443. Sterna fuscata fuscata L.— THE SOOTY TERN. 



Sterna fuscata Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., eel. xii, i, p. 228 (1766 — Dominica. 

 Ex Brisson). 



Sterna fuliginosa Gmelin, Syst. Nat., 1, ii, p. 605 (1789 — "Habitat in 

 mari atlantico, americano, indico, australi." Selected typical locality : 

 New York, type in Mus. Lever., fide Latham). 



Sterna fuliginosa Gmelin, Yarrell, in, p. 562 ; Saunders, p. 653 ; Hand- 

 List (1912), p. 196. 



Description. — Adult male and female. Winter and summer. — Fore- 

 head and extending on to sides of crown over eyes in U-shape white ; 

 crown and nape and broad line through lores and over eye jet-black ; 

 rest of upper -parts brown-black but feathers on back of neck with 

 white basal portions not entirely concealed ; whole under -parts 

 (extending to sides of lower -neck) white with an ash-grey tinge on 

 lower flanks, belly, and under tail-coverts ; tail as upper -parts but 

 inner webs paler brown and greyish basally, outer pair mostly white 



\ 



The Sooty Tern (Sterna f. fuscata). Adult, summer. 



with about distal half of inner web dark brown ; primaries brown- 

 black, inner webs browner and greyish basally ; secondaries same 

 but about proximal two-thirds of inner webs white ; wing-coverts 

 as rest of upper-parts, but narrow line of lesser coverts along edge of 

 wing white. A full moult appears to take place in autumn but 

 material is insufficient to determine whether there are two moults in 

 the year, birds with white edges to feathers of fore-part of crown 

 appear to me not adult. 



Nestling. — Down with rather long rami but hair-like tips 

 short and not so fine as in most Terns and filaments often joined 

 together at tip as in Roseate. Whole appearance of down thus 



* The name fuscata must be accepted, as there is no valid reason for its 

 rejection. — E.H. 



