AUSTRALIAN SOOTY TERN. 
“ At Norfolk Island the season commences a month or more later than 
at Lord Howe Island, and continues up to December. 
“ On PhiUip Island I saw in one dry watercourse, thousands of rotten 
eggs, and many hundreds of dead birds caught in the roots or lay buried in 
the sand. Owing to this Island being almost entirely denuded of under- 
growth by the rabbits, the rain very rapidly finds its way into the water- 
courses, and as the Sooty Tern will not leave its eggs, those birds that have 
selected the soft, sandy beds of those watercourses are soon drowned. 
“ The Sooty Terns are not shy, but, when first disturbed, wiU rise and 
hover about, scolding vigorously and snapping their mandibles. They soon 
settle again and it is not difficult to catch them with the hand.” 
The bird figured and described was collected at Long Reef, Sydney, in 
May, 1892. 
Though generally known by Gmelin’s name of Sterna fuliginosa, this is not 
the earhest name applied to the species. Gmelin’s description {Syst. Nat., 
p. 605, 1789) reads : — 
St. nigra, subtus, genis, fronte, remigum rectricumque scapis alba, 
Hirondelle de mer a grande envergure Buff, &c. &c. 
Habitat in mari atlantico, &c. 
Cauda obscura, rectricibus exterioribus albis. 
This description undoubtedly apphes, but Linne in the 12th ed. of the 
Systema Natures, p. 228, 1766, had introduced Sterna fuscata as follows : — 
S. cauda emarginata, corpore nigricante immaculate ; pedibus rubris, rostro fusco. 
Sterna fusca, Briss av. 6, p. 220, t. 21, f. i. 
Habitat in Insula Dominicensi. 
This scant description of Brisson’s bird should be contrasted with the 
beautiful, long and complete account given by Brisson, which leaves no doubt 
whatever as to the bird figured and described by the latter author. I attach 
herewith Brisson’s short diagnosis, as his detailed description is too long : — 
Sterna superne fusco -nigricans, pennis dorsi rufescente in apice marginatis, infeme 
fusca ; tectricibus alarum inferioribus cinereo -albis ; rectricibus nigricantibus, binis 
intermediis minuta maculata rufescente terminatis. Sterna fusca. 
This applies to the immature of Sterna fuliginosa only ; for many years 
Sterna fuscata Linne, 1766, was placed in the synonymy of Anous stolidus 
(Linne) but quite erroneously. Neither Brisson’s figure nor description ag^ree 
with the young of the latter species. 
The subspecies are not easy to diagnose as long series are not available 
from many localities ; there are however a number of names available through 
the great difference between the young and the adult. In addition to Linne 
the young has been described as new by Gmelin (ex Latham), Bloxham, Forster, 
Lesson, and Gould. 
393 
