BASS STRAIT TERN. 
When Pucheran reviewed the types of Cuvier in the Paris Museum {Revue 
Zool., p. 545, 1850), he noted that the bird named Sterna novcB-hollandicB by 
Cuvier was not noticed by Lesson, and that it had been collected by Peron 
and Lesueur, commenting : — 
Elle ne differe du Sterna poUocerca recemment decrit et figure par M. Gould, que par le 
noir de ses remiges primaires, bordees de blanc sur leur face interne, sauf a leur tiers 
terminal, noir comme la face externe. J’insiste sur cette base differentielle, car le mode 
special de coloration des remiges primaires m’a ete d’un grand secours dans le deter- 
mination que J’ai recemment faite des especes de Sternides que possede notre collection 
nationale 
and afterwards indicating that it could scarcely be 8. novce-Jiollandice of 
Stephens. 
I have suggested this might be the bird named by Peron S. caspioides. 
In the Co7nptes Rendus Sci., Paris, Vol. XLII., p. 772, 1856, Bonaparte proposed 
Pelecanopus nigripennis for S. novce-hollandicB Cuv., and as the type-locality 
I designate Tasmania. Saunders examined the type, and concluded that it 
belonged to this species, and of this I think there can be no doubt. Of course. 
Sterna novoe-hollandicB Stephens (in Shaw’s Gen. Zool., Vol. XIII., pt. i, p. 161, 
1826) which Saunders, misled by the coincidence of names, mistook for 
Cuvier’s S. novoe-hollandicB, has nothing to do with this bird, as I will show 
later on. In the Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., Vol. XXV., p. 89, 1896, in accordance 
with his principles regarding non-admission of subspecies, Saunders included 
Sterna bergii only, but under that name carefully indicated all the variations 
pointing to the existence of many subspecific forms. As a natural consequence, 
the receipt of a collection of birds from the Liu Kiu Islands, gave Outram 
Bangs the opportunity of reviewing the species from an up-to-date standpoint. 
In the Bidl. Mus. Comp. Zool., Vol. XXXVI., p. 256, 1901, he introduced 
Sterna bergii boreotis with the diagnosis : — 
As small as the pale grey Sterna bergii poUocerca of Tasmania and South Australia ; 
differing from it in ha\fing the wings, tail, and mantle very dark smoky -gray, almost mouse 
gray. 
Ishigaki, Liu Kiu Islands. 
On the following page he recorded : — 
The principal races of Sterna bergii may be indicated as follows : — 
1. Sterna bergii bergii Licht., South Africa, large, gray of upper parts pale. 
2. S. bergii velox (Cretzschm.), Red and Arabian Seas and Bay of Bengal, large, gray 
of upper parts very dark. 
3. S. bergii pelecanioides (King) northern parts of Australia, intermediate bety^een 
the last two in size and coloration. 
4. S. bergii poliocerca (Gould) Tasmania and South Australia, small, gray of upper 
parts pale. 
5. S. bergii boreotis Bangs, Liu Kiu Islands and Northern China Sea, small, gray 
of upper parts very dark. 
Still another race that may prove distinct is the Polynesian S. rectirostris Peale, 
described from the Fiji Islands. 
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