AUSTRALIAN ROSEATE TERN. 
Apparently overlooking his own description, two years later in the same 
journal he again gave this bird the same name {Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.) 1847, 
p. 222), indicating it as a new species. 
When Masters wrote up the “ Ornithology of the Che vert ” {Proc. Linn. 
Soc. N.S.W., Vol. I., 1875), he introduced a Sterna nigrifrons (p. 62), as here 
given : — 
Head and neck above and the outer web of the external primary, jet black ; remainder 
of the upper surface, wings and tail, light silvery grey ; throat and all the under surface 
white, with a beautiful roseate tint ; three first primaries with a line of dull black on their 
inner webs next the shaft ; bill black ; legs and feet red ; nails black. Total length, 
without biU, to central tail feathers, 9 inches ; to outer tail feathers 12.2 ; wing 8.7 ; 
tail to centre feathers 2.6 ; to outer 6.1 ; tarsi, 0.8 ; bill, from forehead, 1.6 ; from 
anterior margin of nostril 1.2 ; from nape 2. 
Warrior Reef, Torres Straits. 
On the same page he also noted Sterna inelanorhyncha from Warrior 
Reef. Both these entries appear referable to this form. 
Recently it has been commonly allowed that the birds of the Eastern 
seas are separable from those of the Atlantic ; and for the Eastern form, 
which has been given a range from the Seychelles to the Philippines, Gould’s 
name being the earliest, has been used. 
Whether the American breeding birds agree with those on the European 
side of the Atlantic I cannot decide, as though long series are available from 
the former locality, not many are at hand from the latter, where this bird 
seems generally scarce. 
Not much variation in colour is noticeable when Eastern birds are 
examined, while there is not a great deal of difference in size. The apparent 
difficulty seems to be in the erratic disposition of the subspecies, as accurate 
comparisons cannot be made with birds breeding at different sides of the 
Equator. 
Thus Sterna dougallii, breeding in the Atlantic, follows the seasons in 
its plumage-changes and breeding-habits. South of the Equator, at least in 
Australia, so much discrepancy exists in its plumage-changes and breeding- 
habits, that these are not well known. 
In the Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 2nd ser., Vol. I., p. 1100, 1886, Ramsay 
recorded Sterna frontalis from Derby, North-west Australia, writing : “ Found 
all over the coast line of Australia.” This was endorsed by Carter 
{E^nu, Vol. III., p. 208, 1904) who, in his “ List of Birds Occurring af the 
North-west Cape,” included Sterna frontalis as “ Seen in the summer months 
about sandy points.” Both these authorities knew Sterna gracilis well, yet 
there is no doubt that both records refer to this bird and not to the next 
species. Moreover, on one of Carter’s specimens I founded the subspecies 
S. striata cTiristopheri, which must fall as a synonym of S. d. gracilis. 
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