Genus— H YDROCHELIDON. 
Hydrochelidon Boie, Isis 1822, p. 563 . . . . Type 
(Also spelt Hydrochiledon Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng., 
Vol. XV., p. 373, 1846.) 
Viralva Stephens, in Shaw’s Gen. Zool., Vol. XIII., 
pt. I., p. 166, 1826 . . . . . . . . . . Type 
Pelodes Kaup, Skizz Entwick-Gesch. Nat. Syst., p. 107, 
1829 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Type 
Chlidonias Rhoads, Auk, Vol. XXIX., p. 197, 1912 . . Type 
H. nigra. 
H. nigra. 
H. leucopareia. 
H. nigra. 
Small Terns with slender, short bills, long wings, small legs and feet, and 
short tails. The diagnostic features of this genus are the short tail and 
deeply-incised webs of the feet. The metatarsus about equals the middle toe 
alone, and is only about two-thirds the length of the culmen. The tail is less 
than half the length of the wing, and is slightly forked, the lateral feathers not 
developed into streamers but still the longest. The species H. leucopareia 
has a more powerful bill and the webs of the feet more deeply incised, and 
for it the genus Pelodes was provided ; but this seems unnecessary. 
Note. — In the Auk, Vol. XXIX., p. 197, 1912, Rhoads has recorded the generic 
name Chlidonias, which was introduced by Rafinesque in the Kentucky Gazette (Vol. I., 
No. 8, Feb. 21st, 1822, p. 3, col. 5) for a new species, C. melanops. This, Rhoads has 
identified with Sterna surinamensis Gmelin, and he has therefore claimed priority for 
Rafinesque’s name over Hydrochelidon, which was published two months later. As far as 
I can judge from Rhoads’s account, the Kentucky Gazette was a newspaper, and as I do rwt 
admit names pubhshed in newspapers as having any scientific standing, I quote Chlidonias 
as of Rhoads 1912, and give the note so that the matter can be discussed and the question 
of the recognition of Rafinesque’s name settled. 
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