Order LABIF0BME8 
No. 129. 
Family LABIDjF. 
THALASSEUS BERGII POLIOGERCUS. 
BASS STRAIT TERN. 
(Plate 106.)* 
Sterna polioceeca Gould, Synops. Birds Austr., pi. 37, fig. 3, 1837 ; Tasmania. 
Sterna 'poliocerca Gould, Synops. Birds Austr., pi. 37, fig. 3, 1837 ; id., Proc. Zool. Soc. 
(Bond.) 1837, p. 26 ; Legge, Papers and Proc. Roy. Soc. Tasm., 1887, pp. 95 and 130, 
1888. 
Sylochelidon poliocerca Gray, List Spec. Birds Brit. Mus., pt. m., p. 175, 1844. 
Thalasseus poliocercus Boie, Isis 1844, p. 182 ; Gould, Birds Austr., Vol. VII., pi. 24, 1848 ; 
id., Handb. Birds Austr., Vol. II., p. 396, 1865 ; Keartland, Birds Melb. Distr., 
p. 120, 1900. 
Sterna novce-hoUandice Pucheran, Revue Zool. 1850, p. 545. 
Pelecanopus poliocercus Bonaparte, Comptes Rendus Sci., Paris, Vol. XLII., p. 772, 1856. 
Pelecanopus nigripennis id., ib. 
Sterna bergii Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., Vol II., p. 201, 1877 (pars) ; id.. Tab. List 
Austr. Birds, p. 23, 1888 (pars) ; Saunders, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., Vol. XXV., p. 89, 
1896 (pars) ; Hall, Key Birds Austr., p. 88, 1899 (pars) ; Campbell, Nests and Eggs 
Austr. Birds, p. 837, 1901 ; Dove, Emu, Vol. V., p. 160, 1906 ; HaU, Key Birds 
Austr., p. 88, 1906 (pars) ; Campbell, Emu, Vol. VI., p. 138, 1907 ; Mathews, Handl. 
Birds Austral., p. 20, 1908 ; Hull, Emu, Vol. VIII., p. 85, 1908 ; Littler, Handb. 
Birds Tasm., p. 147, 1910 ; Hull, Emu, Vol. XI., p. 205, 1912. 
Sterna hergii cristata Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 208, 1912. 
Distribution. New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania. 
Adult male. Back, scapulars, wings, and tail ash-grey ; primary-quills silvery-grey 
on the outer webs, somewhat dark on the outer web near the base, inner webs grey 
next the shaft, inner portion white ; inner primaries silvery -grey with white on 
the inner webs ; secondaries white with grey on the outer webs, the grey increasing 
in extent on the innermost feathers ; middle tail-feathers like the back, the outer 
ones grey with white inner webs, the outermost pair almost entirely white ; crown 
of head and long nape-feathers black ; forehead, lores, neck all round, and under- 
surface of body white, like the axillaries and under wing-coverts ; a small patch 
of grey feathers on the sides of the breast ; bill yellow, base green ; iris brown, feet 
black. Total length 480 mm. ; culmen 55, wing 345, tail 176, tarsus 27. 
* The Plate is lettered Sterna hergii. 
340 
