Order LABIFORMES 
No. 127. 
Family LARIDM. 
GELOCHELIDON NILOTICA MAOROTAESA. 
LONG-LEGGED TERN. 
(Plate 104.) 
Sterna macrotarsa Gould, Synops. Birds Austr., pi. 37, Jan., 1837 ; {? Tasmania) 
Victoria. 
Sterna macrotarsa Gould, Synops. Birds Austr., pi. 37, 1837. 
Oelochelidon “ macrotarsa ” Boie, Isis 1844, p. 187 ; Gould, Handb. Birds Austr., Vol. II., 
p. 403, 1865 ; id., Suppl. Birds Austr., pi. 81, 1869 ; Ramsay, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Bond.) 
1877, p. 348 ; Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVII., p. 497, 1910. 
Sterna anglica (not Mont.) Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., Vol. II., p. 201, 1877 ; 
id.. Tab. List Austr. Birds, p. 23, 1888 ; North, Austr. Mus. Cat., No. 12, p. 355, 
1889 ; Campbell, Viet. Nat., Vol. IV., p. 187, 1888 ; Keartland, Trans. Roy. Soc. 
South Austr., Vol. XXII., p. 192, 1898. 
Oelochelidon anglica Saunders, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., Vol. XXV., p. 25, 1896 (pars) ; 
Campbell, Nests and Eggs Austr. Birds, p. 830, 1901 ; Carter, Emu, Vol. III., p. 207, 
1904 ; Hall, Key Birds Austr., p. 88, 1906 ; Berney, Emu, Vol. VI., p. 114, 1907 ; 
Mathews, Handl. Birds Austral., p. 20, 1908 ; Ingram, Ibis 1908, p. 462. 
Oelochelidon nilotica macrotarsa Hartert, Nov. Zool., Vol. XII., p. 199, 1905. 
Thalasseus niloticus macrotarsus Mathews, ib., Vol. XVIII., p. 207, 1912. 
Distribution. Austraha generally. 
Adult male in breeding-plumage. General colour above very pale grey on the back, wings, 
and scapulars ; primary-quills silvery-grey, white on the inner webs, the outer 
quills edged with dark brown on the outer webs ; upper tail-coverts and tail pure 
white ; crown of head black ; feathers of the nape white with black tips ; chin, 
throat, and entire under -surface white, like the axillaries and under wing-coverts ; 
“ Bill black, mouth orange ; iris dark hazel ; feet and legs black, soles with an 
orange tinge ” (T. Carter). Total length 432 mm. ; culmen 45, wing 342, tail 141, 
tarsus 36. 
Adult female. Similar to adult male. 
Adult male in winter. Differs from the male in breeding-plumage in the abseneb^ of the 
black on the head and nape, which is represented by white feathers more or less 
streaked with black ; ear-coverts and feathers surrounding the eye black. 
The female in winter has the same plumage as the male in the same season. 
Immature and Nestling. Do not appear to have been described. 
Nest. “ Placed close to one another, and composed of a few bits of dry grass or stems 
of cane grass, on a small piece of ground surrounded by water ” (Godfrey). 
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