MICRANOUS. 416 
like the members of the genus Anous, but are of a slighter and more graceful form. 
The bill is slender and long, the distance from the angle of the genys longer than that 
to the gape, while in the tail the third pair of rectrices from the outside are the longest. 
The range of the genus is the same as that of the true Noddies, viz. the tropical and 
subtropical seas. Mr. Howard Saunders recognizes three species: M. tenuirostris and 
M. leucocapillus, with a wide range in the Old World, the latter species alone 
occurring within our limits; a third form, WZ. hawatiensis, is confined to the Sandwich 
Islands. 
1. Micranous leucocapillus. 
Anous leucocapillus, Gould, P. Z. S. 1845, p. 103’. 
Micranous leucocapillus, Saunders, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxv. p. 145°; Oates, Cat. Eggs Brit. 
Mus. i. p. 199°. 
Anous tenuirostris (nec Temm.), Salv. Ibis, 1864, p. 383*; 1866, p. 200°; Coues, Ibis, 1864, 
p. 393°; Scl. & Salv. P. Z. 8. 1871, p. 566’. 
Supra fuliginoso-niger, plumbeo adumbratus ; alis caudaque nigricantibus, rhachidibus brunneis; corpore 
subtus toto fuliginoso-nigro, facie laterali colloque, gutture et pectore summo plumbeo distincte adumbratis, 
abdomine sordidiore; pileo canescenti-albo, nucham versus clarius cinereo ; loris et plumis anteocularibus 
et oculum circumdantibus nigerrimis: rostro nigro; pedibus saturate brunneis. Long. tota circa 12°5, 
alee 9:0, caude 4:6, culm. 1°8, tarsi 0-85. (Descr. maris adulti ex Glover’s Reef. Mus. nostr.) 
Q haud a mari distinguendus. Long. tota circa 12:5, alee 8-9. (Deser. maris et femine adulte ex Glover's 
Reef. Mus. nostr.) 
Hab. British Honpuras, Glover’s Reef *®, South-west-of-all Cay (0. S. 4°).—Intsr- 
mRoPIcAL ATLANTIC OceaN?; INDIAN Oczan?; Matayasia?; AUSTRALIA? ; PActIFIc 
OcraNn to Society Is. ?. 
This species is distinguished from the typical Noddies by its small size and white 
head. It has been found only in one place in Central America, viz., on the islets off 
the coast of British Honduras’. Here it was discovered by Salvin nesting on “ South- 
west-of-all,” a small Cay on the outer margin of Glover’s Reef *?. 
In habits WU. leucocapilius resembles the larger kinds of Noddies (Anous). Salvin 
says that the nest of the “‘ Piccary Noddy” was small and compact, made of slender twigs, 
seaweed, and bits of grass, and glued together in every available fork and on every 
horizontal branch. ‘This species almost exclusively monopolized the high mangroves 
on the windward side of the island. In one tree there were over seventy nests. 
The eggs are described by Mr. Oates as mostly of a broad oval form, though 
some are quite elliptical, the ground-colour varying from pure white to cream and 
pale pink, with the markings occasionally evenly distributed, but generally collected at 
the larger end, and consisting of specks, lines, and dashes, and varying in size from 
spots to blotches of reddish-brown or chocolate-brown, with a few underlying markings 
of pale purple. As with the Noddies, feebly marked specimens are not unfrequent °. 
