_Sterna Oahuensis_ Bloxham, Voy. "Blonde," 1826, p. 251. (Type
locality, Oahu, Hawaiian Islands.)
_Sterna fuliginosa_ Finsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 12, 1876, pp.
18, 39 (Ponapé); _idem_, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1877 (1878), p.
781 (Ponapé); _idem_, Journ. f. Ornith., 1880, p. 295 (Ponapé);
Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, p. 62 (Ponapé).
_Onychoprion fuscata infuscata_ Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds
Micronesia, 1922, p. 51 (Ponapé).
_Sterna fuscata nibilosa_ Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p.
195 (Ponapé); Yamashina, Tori, 10, 1940, p. 677 (Helen Reef);
Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 218 (Ponapé, Helen
Reef).
_Sterna fuscata oahuensis_ Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p.
25 (Micronesia).
_Geographic range._--Breeds from the Hawaiian, Marcus, and Bonin
islands south to the Phoenix Islands and Micronesia. In Micronesia:
Mariana Islands--Asuncion; Palau Islands--Helen Reef; Caroline
Islands--Ponapé.
_Specimens examined._--Total number, 1 unsexed from Mariana
Islands, AMNH--Asuncion (Jan. 18).
_Remarks._--The systematic position of the Sooty Tern in Micronesia is
uncertain; in using this name I am following Peters (1934:338), who
comments that the species "is badly in need of revision." Coultas
obtained one immature female at O° 90´ S and 159° 50´ E, a position
south of the eastern Caroline Islands. The bird is tentatively placed in
the subspecies _S. f. oahuensis_. The Sooty Tern probably does not breed
in large numbers in Micronesia, unless it be in the northern Marianas.
Bryan (1903:97) reports that this species is very abundant at Marcus
Island, which is north and east of the Marianas.
=Sterna albifrons sinensis= Gmelin