Order LARIF0RME8 
No. 134. 
Family LARI DM. 
STERNA STRIATA MELANORHYNCHA. 
AUSTRALIAN WHITE-FRONTED TERN. 
(Plate 109.)* 
Sterna melanoehyncha Gould, Birds Austr., Vol. VII., pi. 26, 1848; Tasmanian 
seas. 
Sterna melanorJiyncha Gould, Birds Austr., Vol. VII., pi. 26, 1848 ; id., Handb. Birds Austr., 
Vol. II., p. 398, 1865. 
Sterna velox (not Riippell) id., Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.) 1842, p. 139. 
Sterna frontalis Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., Vol. II., p. 201, 1877 ; id.. Tab. List. 
Austr. Birds, p. 23, 1888 ; North, Austr. Mus. Oat., No. 12, p. 403, 1890 ; Saunders, 
Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., Vol. XXV., p. 97, 1896 ; North, Birds County Cumber., p. 113, 
1898 ; Hall, Key Birds Austr., p. 88, 1899 ; Campbell, Nests and Eggs Austr. 
Birds, p. 840, 1901 ; Hall, Key Birds Austr., p. 88, 1906 ; Mathews, Handl. Birds 
Austral., p. 21, 1908 ; Littler, Handb. Birds Tasm., p. 148, 1910. 
Sterna striata (not Gmehn) Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 4, 1911 ; id.. Emu, 
Vol. X., p. 320, 1911. 
Sterna striata incerta id., Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 208, 1912. 
Distribution. South-east Austraha. 
Adult male in hreeding-ylumage. Head and nape deep black, wings, scapulars, back and 
tail very pale grey ; the outer web of the first primary blackish, paler towards 
the tip, inner webs chiefly white, with a shade of grey near the shafts ; secondaries 
for the most part white, with grey on the outer webs ; tail-feathers white on the 
inner webs towards the base ; forehead, lores, sides of the face, sides of the neck, 
and the entire under-surface silky-white, including the under tail-coverts, 
axiUaries, and under wing-coverts. Bill black ; iris brown ; feet and legs brownish- 
red. Total length 451 mm. ; culmen 40, wing 272, tail 185, tarsus 21. 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male. 
Adult in winter-'plumage. Differs from the adult in breeding-plumage, in having the 
fore-part, and entire crown of the head white, the feathers being sHghtly tipped 
with black. 
Immature and Nestling. Do not appear to have been described. 
Nest. A depression in the sand or gravel. 
Eggs. Clutch, two ; ground-colour stone, blotched with dark brown and fight grey ; 
axis 47-48 mm., diameter 33-34 (Tasmania). 
Breeding -season. November and December. 
* The Plate is lettered Sterna frontalis. 
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