STERNA.—ANOUS. All 
concoloribus, primariis et secundariis externis intus albis, tectricibus primariorum et remigibus duobus 
extimis plerumque nigris, his extus et juxta rhachidem nigram late dimidiatim nigris ; rectricibus dorso 
concoloribus, rectrice extima alba, apicem versus medialiter cinerascente ; facie laterali et corpore subtus 
toto albis: rostro aurantiaco ad apicem nigro; pedibus aurantiacis. Long. tota circa 8°8, ale 6°8, 
caude 1°65, rectrice extima 3°5, culm. 1-1, tarsi 0°55. (Descr. maris adulti ex San Blas. Mus. nostr.) 
Av. hornot. similis adultis, sed pileo albo vix cinereo lavato, regione anteoculari usque ad nucham nigricante, 
pilei postice cincturam formante; tectricibus minimis nigricantibus, fasciam alarem exhibentibus: rostro 
nigricante ; pedibus brunnescentibus. (Descr. maris hornot. ex San Blas. Mus. nostr.) 
Hab. Temperate Nortu America, casually to Labrador, breeding nearly throughout its 
range? 10._Mrxico, Matamoros (Dresser 13), Manzanillo, Colima (Xantus !”), San 
Blas, Tepic (Richardson), Gulf of Tehuantepec, San Mateo (Sumichrast "); 
British Honpuras, Long Cay 21°, Grassy Cay °, Glover’s Reef? 1° (0. S.); GuaTE- 
MALA, Pacific coast+, Coban® (0. S.).—SouTH AMERICA, coast of Venezuela !°; 
West Inpres !°.—West AFRica 1°. 
The Little Tern of North America differs from its European representative, S. minuta, 
in having the rump grey, like the back, and not white as in the Old-World species. 
It also has the bill tipped with black, and this character distinguishes the bird from 
S. superciliaris of Amazonia, which has a stout and entirely yellow bill. . 
S. antillarum breeds throughout its range along the Atlantic coast of North 
America from the Bay of Fundy southwards to Texas, as well as in Cuba, and on the 
islands of the Bay of British Honduras, where Salvin found numbers of nests in May. 
The species was likewise met with in Western Mexico by Sumichrast and Xantus, 
and Salvin also noticed it on the Pacific coast of Guatemala. 
It is a shore-loving species, seldom ascending the larger rivers. Its nest consists of 
a mere depression in the sand. The eggs are similar to those of the Little Tern of 
Europe, being of a pale cream-colour, drab, or buff, rather thickly marked with spots 
and blotches of different shades of brown 11. 
ANOUS. 
Anous, Steph. in Shaw’s Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. 1, p. 189 (1826) ; Saunders, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxv. 
p- 136 (1896). 
In Anous the tail is graduated, the feathers being pointed, with the outer pair 
shorter than the next pair; the middle toe and claw shorter than the exposed culmen. 
The bill is strong and decurved, the distance from the angle of the genys to the tip less 
than that to the gape. ‘The fourth pair of rectrices from the outside the longest. | 
The members of the present genus are all birds of a sombre colour. They 
inhabit the islands of the tropical and juxta-tropical seas, and breed in great commu- 
nities, making their nest on the ground or on a bush or tree, or even a ledge of rock, 
and laying but one egg. 
The Common Noddy (A. stolidus) has a very wide range, occurring in both 
hemispheres. Mr. Howard Saunders recognizes, with hesitation, a second species, 
52* 
