STERNA ANGLICA. 
(THE GULL-BILLED TERN.) 
Sterna anglica , Montagu, Orn. Diet. Suppl. (1813) ; Saunders, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 644; Dresser, 
B. of Eur. pts. 61, 62 (1877); Yon Heuglin, Orn. N.Ost-Afr. ii. p. 1425 (1873); 
Hume, Str. Feath. 1879, p. 115 (List Ind. B.). 
Sterna aranea , Wilson, Am. Orn. viii. p. 143 (1814). 
Sterna affinis, Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. 1821, xiii. p. 199. 
Gelochelidon anglica (Mont.), Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 137 (1852) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. 
Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 270; Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 836 (1864); Holdsw. P. Z. S. 
1872, p. 480 ; Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 33, et 1875, p. 407 ; Salvadori, Uccelli di Born, 
p. 371 (1874) ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1878 (B. of Tenass.), p. 491. 
Gelochelidon macrotarsa, Gould, B. of Austr. Suppl. pi. 81 (1869). 
Sterna mlotica, Hasselq. apud Hume, Nests and Eggs, iii. p. 648 (1875). 
Lach-Zeezwaluw, Dutch. Kddal kuruvi, Ceylonese Tamils, also Pullu (Layard) ; Simbangan, 
Borneo (Mottley). 
I/iniya , Sinhalese. 
Adult male (Ceylon). Length 14'6 to 15’5 inches ; wing 12 - 5 to 13'0, reaching 2 - 0 beyond tail ; tail 4 - 7 to 5 - 8 (attain- 
ing its greatest length in the breeding-season); tarsus l - 3 to l - 4 ; middle toe and claw’ T2 to l - 3; bill to gape 
2 - 0 to 2T5, at front 1-5 to 1-6. 
Female (Ceylon). Length 14-3 to 15’0 inches; wing 12-0 to 12-4; tarsus 1-3; bill to gape 2-0 to 2T, at front 1-4 
to 1’5. 
The bill is short and high at the base in this species, with the gonys much pronounced. 
Breeding-plumage (Ceylon, March). Iris hazel-brown ; bill black, with a reddish tinge, the gape and inside of mouth 
pale red ; the base of the lower mandible reddish occasionally ; legs and feet black, with a slight tinge of reddish. 
Forehead, including the upper half of lores, head, and nape, with a nuchal crest 1 ^ inch long, glossy black ; lower 
part of the lores in a line with the nostril, face, sides of neck, and all beneath, including the under wing, axillaries, 
and under tail-coverts, pure white ; back and wings pale blue-grey, fading into silvery greyish on the tail ; quills 
silvery grey, terminal margins of inner webs dark grey, and the bases white ; primary-shafts white. After a while, 
as in other species, the primaries lose the frosting ” and become dark grey. In one specimen some of the head- 
feathers are black, with white edges, which, in course of time, probably would turn black, proving that in this 
case a moult and change of colour are combined in producing the black head. This plumage is assumed in March 
in Ceylon. 
Winter plumage (Ceylon). Bill pure black, the gape not red ; legs and feet pure black. 
Forehead and front of -crown white, becoming gradually dusky bluish grey on the occiput and nape, on which latter 
the shafts are also dusky ; a black spot in front of eye, in general passing round it, and spreading over the ear- 
coverts as a blackish patch ; lores and front part of cheek striated with black. The extent of black on the auri- 
cular region is variable. 
Nestling in down. “Head greyish white on the hind crown, and nape marked with a few small grey spots ; a larger 
spot on the ear and a mark carried from the end of the gape under the cheek, both blackish grey ; upper parts light 
grey, darker in shade than the nape and hind crown, marked with blackish-grey spots, which run into stripes, of 
which the four central ones are the most clearly defined ; chin, throat, and underparts pure W’hite, except the fore 
part of the neck, which is greyish wdiite ; bill short, pale reddish at the base, greyish in the middle, and white at 
the tip ; iris brownish grey ; feet dull reddish white.” ( Dresser , fide Naumann). 
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