THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
is labelled Cape York, hut is in full breeding-plumage ; this bird I would not 
admit as no label is attached, and I would rank it on a par with the New 
Zealand record, which is of a pair in full breeding-plumage from Nelson, South 
Island, procured on December 1 2th, 1868. I have examined many birds 
and no such condition seems possible to me. The birds breed in China and 
migrate south in winter. Captain Stanley’s “Rattlesnake” bird, obtained at 
Cape York in November, 1849, is in fuU winter-plumage, and one of Elsey’s 
specimens in March, 1856, is Just beginning to take on its summer-plumage. 
I therefore conclude that the New Zealand record is had, as birds in New 
Zealand in December would be in fuU winter-dress, not breeding. It should 
be noted that it is a Nelson record, and the majority of the early Nelson New 
Zealand records are unrehable. 
This bird was first clearly described by Temminck {Manuel d'Orn.^ p. 483, 
1815) as Sterna leucoptera : — 
Bee et pieds d’un rouge de corail ; membranes des doigts tres decoupees, I’inteme 
ne formant qu’im petit rudiment ; longueur du tarse 9 lignes ; queue tres peu fourchue, 
les ailes s’etendent de 2 pouces 4 lignes au de la de son extremite. Tete, cou, haut du dos, 
poitrine, ventre, couvertures du dedans des ailes et abdomen d’un noir profond ; partie 
inferieure du dos et scapulaires d’un noir cendre ; petites et moyennes couvertures des ailes, 
croupion, pennes de la queue et ses couvertures tant superieures qu’inferieures d’un blanc 
parfait ; grandes couvertures des ailes et pennes secondaires d’tm cendre bleuatres ; sur 
les barbes inferieures des deux premieres remiges est une large bande longitudinale et d’un 
blanc pur ; iris noir ; bee et pieds d’lm rouge de corail. 
Longueur 9 pouces 3 ou 4 lignes. 
Habite : les bords de la Mediterranee. 
It had been noted by earlier writers under the erroneous name of 
Sterna nigra Linne, which name was however used for a different bird by 
Linne in the tenth edition of the Syste^na Natures. The bird there described 
was not in full plumage, and confusion arose through attempting to identify 
the state of plumage there detailed with some phase of this bird. Other 
Linnean and Gmelinian names given to immature specimens of this group of 
Terns, have at times been considered to refer to the present species, but as 
far as I can judge they have been correctly relegated to the synonymy of 
Lump’s Sterna nigra. These Marsh-Terns in winter- and immature-plumage 
are not easy to differentiate, especially by means of written descriptions. 
The summer-plumages however are so distinct, that there can be no 
confusion in that state. 
In the Trans. Linn. Soc. (Lend.), Vol. XIII., p. 199, 1821, Horsfield 
described a Tern from Java as, “ S. supra grisea, corpore subtus annulo collari 
fronteque albis, remige exteriore nigricante, rostro nigro. Longitudo 9 poll.” 
I should consider this indeterminable save that the tj^pe is still existent, 
and is recognisable as this species in the winter-plumage. I am therefore 
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