THE INDIAN RIVER-TERN. 
433 
761. STERNA SEENA. 
THE INDIAN RIVER-TERN. 
Sterna seena, Sykes, P. Z, S. 1832, p. 171 ; Hume, Nests ayid Eggs, p. 650 ; id. S. F. 
iii. p. 193 ; Saunders, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 645 ; Atiders. Yunnan Exped. p. 693 
Hume 8f Dav. 8. F. vi. p. 492 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 116; Legge, Birds Ceglon, 
p. 1003 ; Oates, S. F. x. p. 246 ; Kelham, Ibis, 1882, p. 201. Sterna aurantia, 
Gray ^- Hardw, III Ind. Zool. i. pi. 69. f. 2; Hume, S. F. i. p. 281. Seena 
aurantia, Jerd. B. Ind, ii. p. 838 ; Bl. B. Burm. p. 163 ; Wardlaio Ramsay, 
Ibis, 1877, p. 472 ; Oates, 8. F, v. p. 169. 
Description. — Summer plumage. Forehead,, crown, nape, lores and feathers 
under the eye black ; upper plumage grey ; tail paler grey, the outer 
feathers white ; primaries grey on the inner webs, white on the outer ; 
secondaries and tertiaries much the same colour as the back ; wing-coverts 
with the outer webs more or less whitish ; sides of the head and the whole 
lower plumage white, tinged with very pale grey on the breast, abdomen 
and sides of the body. 
In winter the black portions of the head become white, a patch round 
the eye remaining dark brown and the ear-coverts being tinged with 
brown. 
In the bird of the year the head is brownish and the f eathei^s of the upper 
plumage are fringed with fulvous. 
Iris brown ; bill deep yellow ; legs and feet red. 
Length 18 inches, tail 8*5, wing 11*2, tarsus '85,^11 from gape 2*3, 
fork of the tail 5*5. These are the dimensions of a fine breeding female 
shot at Thayetmyo. The sexes are of the same size. 
The Indian River-Tern is extremely abundant over the whole Province 
except perhaps in the southern half of Tenasserim, where Mr. Davison did 
not observe it, and it is a constant resident. 
This species seems to be confined to India, Ceylon and Burmah. It 
extends up to Scinde on the north-west, and it appears to straggle 
south as far as Malacca, for Lieut. Kelham observed a specimen at that 
place. 
This graceful Tern is met with in every part of Burmah where there is a 
river or even a pond. It breeds on the sand -banks of the larger rivers, 
depositing three eggs in March and April in a depression in the sand. 
Considerable numbers of these birds generally nest together. The eggs 
are buff of various shades, thickly blotched and marked with deep brown. 
