46 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 79 



about the same numbers. In flight the two forms intermingled, but 

 were readily distinguished by their size, color, and crown patch. 



ANOiJS STOLIDUS RmGWAYI Anthony 



Ridgway's noddy tern 



Anous stoHdus ridgwayi Anthony, Auk, 1898, p. 36. (Socorro Island, Mexico.) 

 The single specimen taken on Cocos Island June 6, 1929, by A. K. 

 Fisher, is a bird in molt without the light crown cap. This indi- 

 vidual is renewing the primaries. It is identified as ridgwayi in 

 accordance with present usage, though no particular difference is 

 noted in comparing it with skins of A. s. galapagensis from the 

 Galapagos Islands, since it is as dark as the average of that race. 



ANOtJS STOLIDUS GALAPAGENSIS Sharpe 



Galapagos noddy 



Anous galapagensis Sharpe, Phil. Trans., vol. 168, 1879, p. 469. (Dalrymple 

 Bock, Chatham Island, Galapagos Islands.) 



A male was secured at Tower Island June 14, 1929. 



When we were near islands, noddies of one form or another %vere 

 common along the rocky ledges or out over the water, where they 

 were in search of food. Often large flocks were seen milling over 

 shoals of fish, especially when bonitos or other predacious fish were 

 driving small fry toward the surface. In the fading light of eve- 

 ning or when the noddies were flying with a dark shore as a back- 

 ground, often the only part of each bird visible was the light crown 

 patch that bobbed along like a will-o'-the-wisp. 



GYGIS ALBA CANDIDA (Gmelin) 



Fairy torn, love tern 



Sterna Candida. Gmei^in, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 607. (Christmas 

 Island, Pacific Ocean.) 



Two adult males and a nestling with wing quills just starting were 

 taken on Cocos Island June 10, 1929, by A. K. Fisher. The adults 

 have the following measurements : Wing, 236, 247 ; tail, 106.0, 125.7 ; 

 culmen, 38.1, 38.9; tarsus, 13.9, 13.4 mm. These birds seem to agree 

 in range of measurement with a few skins at hand from the Tuamotu 

 Islands and Tahiti, and on this basis are supposed to represent the 

 form typical of the central Pacific region. 



A male taken at Toau in the Tuamotus has the following measure- 

 ments: Wing, 240.0; tail, 119.3; culmen, 43.0; tarsus, 12.8 mm. 



Hartert^^ believes, though he did not have specimens from 

 Gmelin's type locality, that this form must be known as Candida^ 



'Not. Zoo!., vol. 34, Aug., 1927, pp. 19-20. 



