Читать книгу A Manual of Philippine Birds - Richard C. McGregor - Страница 191

 Sterna sinensis Gmelin, Syst. Nat. (1788), 1, pt. 2, 608. Saunders, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1896), 25, 113; Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 136; Oates, Cat. Birds’ Eggs (1901), 1, 192; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 21.

Luzon (Whitehead); Mindanao (Steere Exp.); Mindoro (Bourns & Worcester); Palawan (Whitehead). Chinese and Indian seas to Australia.

“Adult male in breeding plumage.—Lores black from base of bill to eye; forehead as far as a little beyond the top of eye white; crown and nape black; mandible pearl-gray; secondaries bordered with grayish white; shafts of primaries pure white in the outer, and pale gray in the upper ones; outer web of the outer primary and a broad line next the shaft on its inner web dark gray; on the succeeding primaries paler gray; upper portions and edges of inner webs white; rump pearl-gray; tail and under parts white. Bill gamboge-yellow, tipped with black; tarsi and feet orange-yellow. Length, 280 when the streamers are fully developed; culmen, 35; wing, 188; tail, 145; depth of fork, 86; tarsus, 16; middle toe with claw, 20.

“Adult female.—Slightly smaller than the male and with less developed tail-streamers.

“Adult in autumn.—Similar, with more white on the forehead, and shorter tail-streamers; primaries darker on their terminal portions, owing to the disappearance of the frosting, until the new quills appear.

“Immature.—Like the above, but dull white on crown and the front of the lores; primaries still darker, the outer shafts always white, the other shafts dusky; upper wing-coverts dark gray; tail-feathers grayish, and the streamers not much prolonged; bill dark brown, tarsi and toes ochraceous.

“Young.—Forehead buffish white, crown with black streaks which become confluent on nape; upper parts mottled and barred with buffish brown on a dull gray ground. Bill horn-color; feet ocher-yellow. When the bird is barely fledged the buff-color predominates on the upper surface.” (Saunders.)

“Found by us in great abundance near the center of Mindoro, where it was flying about over the dried beds of streams and alighting among the pebbles, its color assimilating so closely with that of the sand and small stones that it was well nigh impossible to see it on the ground.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)