_Sterna pacifica_ Lesson, Ann. Sci. Nat., 4, 1825, p. 101. (Type
locality, Society Islands, Paumotu Islands, and Bora Bora.)
_Sterna alba_ Kittlitz, Kupfertaf. Naturgesch. Vögel, 3, 1833, p.
28 (Carolinen); _idem_, Obser. Zool., in Lutké, Voy. "Le
Séniavine," 3, 1836, pp. 286, 299, 308 (Ualan, Lougounor, Ouleai).
_Gygis candida_ Hartlaub, Archiv f. Naturgesch., 18, 1852, p. 137
(Carolinen); Hartlaub, Journ. f. Ornith., 1854, p. 168
(Carolinen); Kittlitz, Denkw. Reise russ. Amer. Micron. und
Kamchat., 1, 1858, p. 382, 2, 1858, pp. 39, 60 (Ualan); Gray, Cat.
Birds Trop. Is. Pacific Ocean, 1859, p. 59 (Caroline Islands);
Saunders (part), Cat. Birds British Mus., 25, 1896, p. 149 (Pelew,
Carolines); Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, p. 51 (Ruk,
Pelew).
_Gygis alba_ Finsch and Hartlaub, Fauna Centralpolynesiens, 1867,
p. 233 (Carolinen); Hartlaub, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1867
(1868), p. 832 (Pelew); Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc.
London, 1868, pp. 9, 118 (Pelew); Finsch and Hartlaub, Journ. f.
Ornith., 1870, p. 140 (Pelew); Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool.
Soc. London, 1872, pp. 90, 114 (Pelew, Uap, Ualan); Gräffe, Journ.
Mus. Godeffroy, 2, 1873, p. 123 (Yap); Finsch, Journ. Mus.
Godeffroy, 8, 1875, pp. 6, 43 (Palau); _idem_, Journ. Mus.
Godeffroy, 12, 1876, pp. 18, 40 (Ponapé); _idem_, Proc. Zool. Soc.
London, 1877 (1878), p. 782 (Ponapé); _idem_, Journ. f. Ornith.,
1880, pp. 295, 309 (Ponapé, Kuschai); _idem_, Proc. Zool. Soc.
London, 1880, p. 577 (Ruk); _idem_, Ibis, 1881, pp. 105, 106, 109,
115, 246, 247 (Kushai, Ponapé); Schmeltz and Krause, Ethnogr.
Abth. Mus. Godeffroy, 1881, pp. 299, 330, 353 (Mortlock, Nukuor,
Ruk); Finsch, Mitth. Ornith. Ver. Wien, 1884, p. 52 (Kuschai);
Wiglesworth (part), Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6,
1890-1891 (1891), p. 78 (Pelew, Uap, Luganor, Nukuor, Ruk, Ponapé,
Ualan); Oustalet (part), Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3),
8, 1896, p. 58 (Palaos, Carolines); Baker (part), Smithson. Misc.
Coll., vol. 107, no. 15, 1948, p. 57 (Peleliu, Ulithi, Truk,
Kusaie).
_Gygis alba kittlitzi_ Hartert, Katalog Vogelsamml. Senckenb.,
1891, p. 237 (Type locality, Ulea = Wolea); _idem_, Novit. Zool.,
7, 1900, p. 10 (Ruk); Dubois, Syn. Avium, 2, 1904, p. 1020
(Carolines); Mathews (part), Birds Australia, 2, 1912, p. 443
(Carolines); Ridgway (part), Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 50, pt. 8,
1919, p. 559 (Carolines); Kuroda (part), Avifauna Riu Kiu, 1925,
p. 193 (Carolines); Hand-list Japanese Birds (part), rev., 1932,
p. 196 (Pelew, Yap, Wolea, Luganor, Ruk, Ponapé, Kusaie);
Yamashina (part), Tori, 10, 1940, p. 678 (Babelthuap).
_Gygis albus kittlitzi_ Kuroda (part), in Momiyama, Birds
Micronesia, 1922, p. 50 (Pelews, Yap, Wolea, Luganor, Nukuor, Ruk,
Ponapé, Kusaie).
_Leucanous albus kittlitzi_ Mathews (part), Syst. Avium
Australasianarum, 1, 1927, p. 143 (Carolines).
_Gygis alba candida_ Peters, Check-list Birds World, 2, 1934, p.
349 (Carolines); Hand-list Japanese Birds (part), 3d ed., 1942, p.
219 (Babelthuap, Koror, Angaur, Yap, Wolea, Truk, Lukunor,
Nukuoro, Ponapé, Kusaie).
_Geographic range._--Central and southern Pacific from Carolines
southeast through Melanesia and east through Samoa to Tuamotus,
Easter to Cocos and Clipperton (see figure 12). In Micronesia:
Palau Islands--Angaur, Peleliu, Garakayo, Koror, Babelthuap,
Kayangel; Caroline Islands--Yap, Ulithi, Wolea, Truk, Lukunor,
Ponapé, Kusaie.
_Characters._--Resembles _G. a. candida_, but size larger, wing
length of adult males and females 236-253 (245); length of exposed
culmen 38-44 (42).
_Measurements._--Measurements are listed in table 24.
_Specimens examined._--Total number, 36 (22 males, 12 females, 2
unsexed), as follows: Palau Islands, USNM--Peleliu, 1 (Sept. 1);
AMNH--exact locality not given, 1 (Nov. 13);-Caroline Islands,
USNM--Ulithi, 12 (Aug. 14, 15, 16, 20, 21)--Truk, 1 (Dec. 13);
AMNH--Truk, 7 (Mar. 8, May 7, June 8, Nov. 11, 26)--Ponapé, 1
(undated)--Kusaie, 10 (Jan., Feb., March 20-30, April 1-10);
MCZ--Yap, 3 (Jan. 13).
_Nesting._--The NAMRU2 party learned that in May and June, 1945,
several young White Terns were seen at Asor, Ulithi Atoll, by
service personnel. These young were observed in breadfruit trees
within a recreational area; the presence of the service personnel
seemingly had little disturbing effect on the terns. At Bulubul,
another island of this atoll, a downy young was obtained on August
22. Hartert (1900:10) reports that eggs of the White Tern were
found on the ground and in forks of branches of trees at Truk in
June.
_Food Habits._--The author (1948:58) reports that stomachs of
birds taken at Ulithi and Peleliu contained fish, insects and
marine crustaceans. Probably the birds feed to a large extent
along the edge of the tidal reef. They almost certainly obtain
food also on the islands as indicated by the presence of insects
in stomach contents; this is not surprising since the birds
frequent woodland habitats.
_Remarks._--_Gygis alba_ is one of the most characteristic birds in
Micronesia. It is seemingly more numerous at the coral atolls than at
the high, volcanic islands. At the latter islands the birds prefer the
coastal coconut grove environment. At Pau and Bulubul, two small islands
in the Ulithi Atoll, the writer counted approximately 100 birds on
August 21, 1945. Kittlitz was the first to publish an account of these
birds in the Caroline Islands. Tetens, Peters, Semper and Kubary
reported their presence in the Palaus. No doubt, these terns attract the
attention of every traveler in the islands owing to their conspicuously
white beauty and their seemingly friendly behavior toward man. Their
habit of hovering in small flocks close over the head of the observer is
indeed spectacular.
=Columba livia= Gmelin