THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Though the general facts of Bangs’s review are accurate, inasmuch as he 
did. not take into consideration Stephens’s S. CTistata, a rearrangement is 
unavoidable. In the Nov. Zool., VoL XVIII., p. 208, 1912, I used this for 
the New South Wales form, because of Latham’s acceptance of the 
Port Jackson bird as typical. I was influenced into this incorrect usage 
by the fact that Sharpe had written that the Watling Drawing No. 270 was 
the type of Latham’s Sterna caspia y, which it is not. Careful re-reading 
of Stephens’s description and facts, shows that view to be inaccurate, as the 
original description by Latham of his Caspian Tern, var. B. {Gen. Synops. 
Birds, Vol. III., pi. 2, 1785, p. 351), which I here reproduce, is only copied 
by Stephens: — 
Length nineteen or twenty inches. Bill three inches, stout, and of a pale yellow ; 
nostrils pervious : the crown of the head black ; the feathers longish, and forming a kind 
of pensile crest at the nape ; the rest of the head, neck, and under parts of the body white ; 
back and wings pale cinereous grey ; quills grey, with the ends dusky ; the inner webs, 
half way from the base, white ; tail grey, forked ; the end half of the outer feathers 
white ; the shafts of quills and tail white ; the last is exceeded by the first by an inch ; 
legs black. 
Supposed to inhabit Chinsj. We have also seen the same, or one greatly resembling, 
from the Friendly Isles in the South Seas. Is also found at Hapaee, one of the Sandwich 
Isles. 
There can be no other course than the adoption of Stephens’s name for 
the Chinese bird, as Stephens indicated China absolutely as the habitat. 
Therefore this name will prohibit the use of S. bergii horeotis Bangs for the 
Chinese bird. Inasmuch as I have found these birds to be very local, series 
may prove the Liu Kiu bird separable, and in that case Bangs’s name may be 
revived. Comparatively long series of breeding birds of this species are avail- 
able, and the subspecific forms seem well marked. I would consider the 
following disposition to be an advance on Bangs’s review : — 
Thalasseus bergii bergii (Lichtenstein) ; Cape of Good Hope. 
Of this form S. longirostris Lesson is a synonym. This subspecies has the 
grey of the upper-parts light and the wing is long. 
Thalasseus bergii velox (Cretzschmar) ; Red Sea. 
This subspecies is rather smaller than the preceding, but the upper coloration 
is much darker. 
Thalasseus bergii baheri, subsp. n. ; Mekran Coast and Northern India. 
This subspecies is even darker than the preceding, and is also larger ; probably 
two subspecies are here confused, while the Laccadive specimens are smaller 
and may belong to the next form. Type from Mekran Coast. 
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