THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Latham’s account reads : — 
[Striated Tern]. PI. XCVIII. 
Size of the White Tern ? Bill black : irides lead-colour : the crown of the head, 
and sides, below the eyes, white, mottled with black : the back part of the head and nape 
black : the hind part of the neck, back, and scapulars, white, transversely waved with 
black, many of the feathers being tipped with that colour ; wing coverts bluish-white, some 
of the lesser ones mottled with black : quills the same, with the outer margins black : all 
the under parts white : tail white, shorter than the wings : some of the feathers edged, and 
others tipped with black : legs lead-colour. 
Inhabits the sea and shores of New Zealand. Prom the drawings of Sir Joseph Banks. 
This greatly resembles the yoimg of the Sandwich Tern. 
When Gray studied Dieffenbach’s collection of New Zealand birds, he 
accepted Gmelin’s name, as one of the specimens agreed completely with the 
description. The following year he received the “ Erebus ” and “ Terror ” 
birds, and in his report he there proposed a new name. Sterna frontalis, 
under which style the New Zealand bird has been commonly known. 
When Sharpe studied the Banksian drawings, he {Hist. Coll. Brit. Mus. 
Birds, Vol. II., p. 204, 1906), drew attention to the fact that the drawing 
by Ellis represented this species, and that Gmelin’s name of Sterna striata 
founded on it should replace S. frontalis. Inasmuch as Latham repro- 
duced Ellis’s figure, there has never been any reason for the rejection of 
Gmefin’s name. 
When I made up my “ Reference List to the Birds of Australia ” {Nov. 
Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 208, 1912), I named the Australian bird. Sterna striata 
incerta, as Gould’s name of Sterna melanorJiyncha was preoccupied in the 
genus by Lesson. The acceptance of the genus Sternula however, admits the 
use of Gould’s name, as Lesson described his bird as Sternula 7nelanorTiyncTia. 
Those who prefer to lump all the Terns under Sterna, must use my name of 
S. s. incerta. 
The distribution of this species is quite peculiar, as it seems confined to 
New Zealand and the east of Australia only. Buller wrote {Stippl. Birds 
New Zeal., Vol. I., p. 159, 1905), “ I found this Tern abundant at Tonga,” but 
I have nowhere seen confirmation of this, nor is it recorded from the 
Kermadecs. 
Buller, in the Trans. New Zeal. Inst., Vol. XXVIII., 1895, p. 349, 1896, 
named the Auckland Island form, Sterna hethunei with the diagnosis : — 
“ Ad. ptil. aestiv. similis S. frontali sed pauUo major ; rostro et pedibus 
conspicue majoribus.” 
I find the specimens from the Auckland Islands to agree, but I have a 
specimen from the Chatham Islands which seems referable to the larger form. 
I would for the present accept three subspecies 
Sterna striata striata Gmelin ; New Zealand. 
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