THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
only on the rocky islets, Nepean and Phillip Islands. On Nepean Island I saw 
large numbers on October I5th, 1908, but nesting had not commenced. The 
birds were very tame, and sat in groups gravely inspecting us a couple of 
yards distant, as we discussed our lunch. They have an inexpressibly sly look, 
owing to the white line under the eye.” 
The bird figured and described is a male collected on Bedout Island, 
South-west Australia, on the 29th May, 1901. 
This is one of the three members of the genus Sterna admitted by Linne 
in the 10th edition of the Syst. Nat., where on p. 137 he included : — 
Sterna stolida. S. cauda cuneiformi, corpore nigro, fronte albicante. Amoen Acad., 3, p. 
Hirundo marina major, capite albo. Sloan Jam i., p. 31, t. 6, f. 2. Gatesb. Carol 
p. 88, t. 88. 
Anaetbetus minor fuscus, vertice cineres, rostro glabro. Brown Jam., 481. 
Habitat in Amerioae pelago. 
Pelagicae aves vix homines adventates metuimt. 
From this time the bird has been well known, but we do not yet know 
the plumage changes that it undergoes. Though so wondrously numerous 
in its breeding-resorts it has no beautiful or attractive plumage, and hence 
escapes death in the cause of science ! ! On account of ignorance of the 
plumages the immature has more than once been redescribed as a new 
species, while on account of the similarity of the next species some of the 
earlier names are difficult to locate. 
Scopoli, in the Del. Flor. Faun. Insuh., Vol. II., p. 92, 1786, introduced : — 
Sterna (pileata) cauda rotundata ; remigibus rectricibusque nigris. Rostrum 
longitudine capitis in acumen sensin attenuatum. Regio supraoculos alba. Crura ubique 
plumosa. 
Ibid, p. 125, Tab. 85. 
This depends upon Sonnerat, and is recognisable as referring to this 
bird, the type-locality being the Philippine Islands. 
In the Narr. Exp. River Zaire by Tuckey, p. 408, 1818, appears the 
following : “ Sterna senex (new species). Cinereous-black, top of the head 
gray, belly with a very faint and obsolete teint of chestnut.” This has been 
sometimes accepted as referring to the next species, but I think there can 
be little doubt that its proper place is in the synonymy of this. 
When Stephens, in Shaw’s Gen. Zool., Vol. XIII., pt. i., p. 140, 1825, 
introduced the genus Anous, he changed the name of the species also, calling 
the bird Anous niger. As his description was based on Linne’s Sterna stolida 
his name follows that, and the type-locality of Anous niger Stephens is that of 
Sterna stolida Linne. 
In the Nat. Alt. Reise Erde, Erman, 1835, p. 17, Nordmann describes 
a Sterna unicolor thus : — 
Tota fusco-fuliginosa, remigibus primariis caudaque nigricantibus, rostro nigro. 
Auf der Sudsee am 3 Februar unter 13° S. Breite und 213° 0 Lange von Paris gefangen. 
408 
