en eee ~~

STER NA ME LANO GASTE R, Temm.,
Black-bellied Tern,

Sterna melanogaster, Temm. Pl. Col. 434.—Burg. in Proc. Zool. Soc.

acuticauda, Hardw. and Gray, Ill. Ind. Zool., eo ution

Hydrochelidon melanogaster, Gray, Gen. of Birds, vol. iii. Pp. 660, Hydrochelidon,
VP Acad. Sci., tom. xii.

Sterna javanica, Blyth, Cat. of Birds in Mus. Asiat. Soc. Calcutta, p. 293.—Jerd Bir

» Part xxiii. (1855) p. 184.

 

sp. 7.—Bonap. Compt. Rend. de

ds of India, vol. ii. part ii. p. 840.
<1.

Tus very elegant Tern is so generally distributed over the Indian peninsula th
particularize the localities in which it has been observed by those who have paid attention to the ornithology
of that country; but I may mention that Capt. Irby found it numerous in Oude and Kumaon, that the ihe
Hon. F. J. Shore met with it at Lukurghat (where he states that the boatmen call it chelooree), that Capt.
Burgess saw it in abundance on the sandbanks of the river at Sukkur about the middle of March, and also
found it common on the river Bheena. Like other species of the genus, it occasionally ascends the rivers

at it seems superfluous to

for a considerable distance from the sea, particularly those that are subject to inundations, and where sandy
and shingly banks are the natural consequence.

“While walking on a sandbank in the midst of the river Bheena,” says Captain Burgess, “I was beset by
a pair of these Terns, and, on looking about on the ground, found two eggs deposited in a slight hollow
scraped in the moist sand not far from the edge of the water. These birds, when flying overhead, utter a
cry very like the chirp of a Sparrow. They breed during the months of March and April, laying two eges
of a rich stone-colour, spotted chiefly round the centre, and more sparingly over the larger end, with grey
and light-brown spots, and measure one inch and rather more than two-tenths in length by one inch
in width.”

Mr. Jerdon states that “ it is seen hunting singly or in small scattered parties over every river in India, and
that it breeds on the sandbanks of the rivers in all parts of the country, and usually lays three eggs.”

Some authors have considered this species to be identical with the Sterna javanica of Horsfield ; but it only
requires a careful reading of Horsfield’s description, in the thirteenth ee of ie “ Transactions) of the
Linnean Society, to ascertain that this is a fallacy. Others, again, have associated it with the Marsh-Terns,
and assigned it a place in the genus Hydrochelidon: this also is an error 3 for its ee feet, as well as seven
other parts of its structure, indicate that it is a true Sterna, of which genus, beautiful as are most of its
members, there is not one more graceful in contour, or more striking in appearance. As far ae a
it is the only species having a black belly—a feature which offers so strong ee os te :
the other parts of the plumage that it must render the bird a most conspicuous © eo oe eae A
believe this mark is common to both sexes, and hence the name of melanogaster applied to it by Temminck
is singularly appropriate. ears .

feo of He head and nape deep black ; all the upper surface, wings, and tail hgh Sue ee . -

a : : : idible, chin, and throat white; breast pearly white,
primaries and tail white; line at the base of the upper mat , hall oan e aaalenine earl
gradually blending with the black of the abdomen and under tail-coverts ; bull orange 5
ge crmilion. : : i ‘th dusky, and the abdomen is pearly grey instead

“In winter,” says Mr. Jerdon, ‘“ the head is white mixed with dusky,
of black.”

es oe mer.
The Plate represents the bird of the natural size, in the plumage of sum