CHINESE VIRALVE. l^S 



is a black spot: the lesser wing-coverts, scapulars, 

 and tail are pale plumbeous : the middle and greater 

 coverts are white, with the edges of some of the latter 

 brown : the quills are black, and the tail is but little 

 forked : the legs are red. 



CHINESE VIRALVE. 



(Viralva Sinensis.) 



Vi. alba dor so cinereo^ alis caudaque griseo-canis,Jascia vertical! 

 nigra. 



White Viralve with the back ash-coloured, the wings and tail 



hoary-grey, and a vertical black band. 

 Sterna Sinensis. Gmel. Syst. Nat. 1. 608. Lath. Ind. Orn. 2, 



809. 



Chinese Tern. Lath. Gen. Syn. 6. 365. Lath, Gen, Hist. x. 

 125. 



" Length eight inches : beak black ; one inch and 

 a quarter in length, and moderately stout : nostrils 

 pervious : head, neck, rump, and under parts white : 

 across the top of the head dusky-black, taking in the 

 eye on each side, and passing downwards in a point 

 at the nape of the neck : back cinereous : some of the 

 feathers edged with pale tawny : wing-coverts fine 

 pale ash-colour, dashed down the middle of each 

 shaft with dusky : quills fine cinereous-grey : tail 

 short, very little forked, paler than the quills : legs 

 slender, orange : claws crooked and black. Inhabits 

 China."- — Latham, 



