429 
Mr. R. Swinhoe on Formosan Ornithology. 
176. Sternula sinensis (Gmel.). 
■S. sumatrana, Raffles. 
The true Little Tern, S. minuta (L.) is not an uncommon winter 
visitant to the south coast of China, and occasionally comes to our 
coast during that season. But in Formosa we have a resident 
species quite distinct, with constant dark bill and legs, and grey 
on the upper tail. I have several skins of this species, procured 
in summer at Taiwanfoo; so that there can be no doubt of the 
plumage not being matured. These I have compared with the 
American Sternula and the Australian S. nereis, Gould, but 
both these are much more closely allied to S. minuta. There 
are, however, specimens in the East Indian Museum, marked S. 
minuta, from the Indian Archipelago, which appear to me iden¬ 
tical with our bird. These have been noted by Raffles as Sterna 
sumatrana. Four adult specimens were brought to me on the 
29th August. They all varied in the length, colour, and even 
shape of the bill. In one the bill was a uniform blackish brown ; 
in two others the bills were of a brownish-yellow ground-colour, 
washed over with black; and in the fourth the apical half was 
blackish grey, and the basal half brownish ochre. The legs and 
toes of this last were light reddish brown, with orange under¬ 
tarsi and soles, the claws being blackish brown. The other 
three had ochre-brown legs and toes, with more or less orange 
on their under-surfaces. In none of my nine specimens is there 
any mottling of immaturity, and most of them have the tail- 
feathers much worn. The stomachs of those dissected contained 
small shrimps and a few small fish. Intestine 12 inches long; 
cseca situate from anus, about ^ long. Length of bird 9 in.; 
wing 7\', tail 4, well forked, the four central rectrices being 
short and obtuse, the four lateral on each side pointed and 
graduated outwards, the outer one being 1^ in. longer than 
the central. Crown, nape, and loral streak black, leaving the 
forehead, a partial eyebrow, and the moustache-streak white. 
All the under-parts pure white. Upper parts, including rump and 
central rectrices, pale French grey. Primary quills with white 
shafts; the first two black, with broad white borders to the inner 
webs; the next two blackish grey, with narrower borders; the rest 
of the same colour as the back. Secondaries tipped with white. In 
