EASTERN WHITE-SHAFTED TERNLET. 
Somaliland specimens were at times named S. minuta, at others 8. saundersi, 
and then East Indian birds were alternately recognised as 8. saundersi and 
8. sinensis, — ^further study seemed necessary. American Terniets are so 
distinct that they do not enter into this review ; in addition to the different 
adult-plumage, the juvenile phases are easily separable. 
Though generally known by the name of 8terna minuta Linne {8yst. Nat, 
12th ed., p. 228, 1766), this name is antedated by 8terna albifrons Pallas in 
Vroeg’s Cat Rais. d’Ois. Adumh., p. 6. 1764, whose description is here 
reproduced : — 
Sterna (albifrons) alba, cauda forcipata, vertice nigro, triangulo frontali albo ; 
remigibus extimis nigris. Turdurn mole aequat. Alba, in dorso cana. Vertex & cervix 
atra, sed triangulnm album, apice rostro insistens, in fronte. Remiges 2 extimae fusco- 
nigrae, interiori margine albae ; reliquae exterius, loco nigri canae. Tectricum extimae 
binae fuscae. Cauda hirundinacea, alba. Rostrum pedesque flavescimt ; apex rostri 
& imgues nigricant. 
The locality is Europe. 
The type-locality of Linne’s 8terna 7ninuta {8yst Nat, 12th ed., p. 228, 
1766) is South Europe ; while S. G. Gmelin {Nov. Coimn. Acad. 8ci. 
Imp. Petrop., Vol. XV., p. 475, 1771) introduced 8terna 7netopoleucos for a 
Russian Bird. 
Gmelin, in his 8yst Nat, included 8terna 7ninuta and 7netopoleucos 
p. 608), and introduced 8ter7ia sinensis (same page) thus : — 
St. alba, dorso, alls caudaque cinereis, rostro et fascia verticis ad nucham usque 
producta nigris, pedibus fulvis. 
Chinese Tern. Lath. syn. III., 2, p. 365, n. 19. 
Habitat in Sina, minutae aflfinis, 8 pollices longa. Ungues nigri. 
Latham’s description reads as foUows : — 
British Museum. 
Length eight inches. Bill black ; one inch and a quarter in length, and moderately 
stout ; nostrils pervious ; head, neck, rump, and imder parts, white ; across the top of 
the head dusky black, taking in the eye on each side, and passing downwards in a point 
at the nape of the neck ; back cinereous ; some of the feathers edged with pale tawny ; 
wing coverts fine pale ash-colour, dashed down the middle of each shaft with dusky ; 
quills fine cinereous grey ; tail short, very little forked, paler than the quills ; legs slender, 
orange ; claws crooked, and black. 
Inhabits China. It seems much allied to the last. 
When Horsfield wrote up the birds of Java he called the Javan bird 
8. 7ninuta, but Temminck, under the heading of 8. 7ninuta, noted : — ' 
Manuel d'Orn., 2nd ed., Vol. IV., p. 464, 1840. 
Remarque. — II parait que la petite Hirondelle de mer des iles de la Sonde et des Moluques, 
diSere un peu de celle d’Europe par la taille, moins forte, et par la forme plus grele du 
bee. Quoique M. Horsfield la considere comme la meme que notre Minuta, nous sommes 
d’avis qu’elle forme une espece distincte, a la verite tres-peu disparatre de la notre. Elle 
a ete designee par nos voyageurs sous le nom de Pusilla. On la trouve lusqu’a la Nouvelle 
Guinee. 
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