( 191 ) 

 1. Sterna Miginosa Gm. 



Stfma fiiligliinsa, Gmelin, Siist. Nat. I. p. 005 (1788). 



Not yet recorded from the Galapagos Islands, aud found on Culpepper and 

 Wenman Islands onlj*. 



With every desire to distinguish them from S. fuUginosa fidiginosa, we are 

 not able to find satisfactory characters for separation. 



The Galapagos specimens seemed smaller, the wings reacliing from 275 to 

 296 mm. generally, but one male from Wenma,n Island has them fully 310 mm. 

 long. This latter measurement is a large average measurement for S. fidiqhwsa 

 from other islands, which have the wings from 202 to 315 mm. long, the largest 

 being mostly those from the islands round New Zealand. The lateral greatly 

 elongated rectrices are only fully developed in one of our Galapagos specimens, but 

 then they are moulting in many of the others. The outer web of these " streamers " 

 is generally darker in the Galapagos birds, but in some it is as light as in examples 

 from other regions, while it varies ei|ually in the latter. The loral black streak is 

 narrower in many of the Galapageian birds, but it is quite variable and perfectly 

 matched by some from other countries. 



Sterna faliginosa, together with S. anaetheta and .S'. lunafa, forms a very 

 natural group of terns by its aberrant coloration and certain liabits, laying, for 

 example, only one egg at a time. Should a generic separation be found to be 

 possible, the name of the genus would be Onychoprion Wagler, 1N32, but Saunders, 

 "with every desire to separate them generically, was unable to find any structurnl 

 differences which would warrant such a proceeding." 



Genus ANGUS Steph. 



An.His, Stephens in Shaw's Gen. Zoo/. XIII. p. 1.39 (1826). 

 Tropical and juxta-tropical seas in general. 



1. Anous stolidus galapagensis Sharpe. 



Miijuluiihrns stoVihis, Gould in Darwin's To//. Bmyl", III. Birds, p. 14i! (1841). 



.•l«o«.v atolidus, Sundevall in Pror. Znnl. Soc. Loiiil. 1871, p. V2:> ; Salvia in V'/vkiv. Zool. Soc. Lnml. 



IX. p. 504 (1876) ; Ridgway in Proc. U.S. Nat. .Uiis. XII. p. 116 (1889). 

 Annus galtqxigeiisis, Sbarpe in Philos. Trans. CLXVIII. p. 469 (1879): Saunders, Oil. B. Brit. 



Mm. XXV. p. 143 (1896) ; Ridgway in Pror. U.H. Nat. Mux. XIX. p. 642. 



The noddy inhabiting the Galapagos Archipelago was formerly united with 

 .1. stolidus sfolid/is by Gould, Sundevall, Salvin ; and even Ridgway {I.e.) mistook 

 an adult bird for the common wide-spread species. In 1879 Sharpe separated it as 

 A. galapagensis, but the characters assigned to it are those of the )'Oung Inrds only, 

 wliile the adult Galapagos form is very similar to adult .1. stolidus stolidus. They 

 are by no means so distinct as Ridgway believes them to be {I.e.). We have 

 sjiecimens from several places, but especially from the Carolines aud Pelew Islands, 

 which are hardly separable from galapagensis. The only differences we can appreciate 

 are the following : — 



In A. stolidus galapagensis the grey of the crown does not reach so far down 

 towards the neck, and, while hardly darker in freshly moulted birds, never becomes 

 so pale as we find it frequently in A. stolidus stolidus. The entire plumage, while 

 often not a shade darker than in A. stolidus stolidus, never becomes so pale-brown 



