48 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



whitish, sparsely speckled or spotted, chiefly round larger end, with brown and 

 purplish gray. 



ai. Lores dusky, in abrupt and marked contrast with the hoary of the forehead. 

 h^. Only the forehead distinctly whitish. 



Uniform sooty brown, becoming gradually grayer on neck, and pass- 

 ing gradually through intermediate shades to white on forehead; 

 quills nearly black. Young (?) : Similar, but head uniform grayish 

 brown, the frontlet hoary grayish. Length 13.00-16.35, wing 10.00- 

 10.50, tail 6.00, culmen 1.75, depth of bill at base .38. ^gg averaging 

 2.06 X 1-37. Hab. Intertropical seas generally, also coast of south- 

 ern Atlantic and Gulf States 79. A. stolidus (Linn.). Noddy. 



b^. Whole top of head distinctly whitish. 



c\ White of crown changing gradually into ashy on hind-neck ; plumage 

 of body, etc., sooty brown. Hab. Intertropical seas and coasts 

 generally, including Gulf coast of Mexico. 



A. melanogenys Gray. Black-cheeked Noddy.^ 

 c^. White of crown abruptly defined against sooty brown of hind-neck ; 

 plumage of body, etc., sooty black. Hab. Southwestern Pacific. 



A. leucocapillus Gould. White-crowned Noddy.* 



al Lores hoary whitish, like forehead. Hoary ash of occiput and hind-neck 



changing gradually into sooty brown on chin and throat, the cheeks being 



grayish. Hab. Indian Ocean. 



A. tenuirostris (Temm.). Slender-billed Noddy.^ 



Family RYNCHOPID^.— The Skimmers. (Page 20.) 



Genera. 

 (Characters same as given for the Family) Rynchops. (Page 48.) 



Genus RYNCHOPS Linn^us. (Page 48, pi. YL, fig. 5.) 



Species. 



d^. Secondaries very broadly tipped with white ; tail white, only the middle pair 

 of feathers grayish or dusky ; under wing-coverts white. Summer adult : 

 Forehead, sides of head, and entire lower parts, white ; upper parts, including 

 hind-neck, top of head, and ear-coverts, black, the secondaries and inner pri- 

 maries broadly tipped with white ; tail white, the middle feathers chiefly 

 gra5nsh brown ; basal half of bill, with legs and feet, bright vermilion-red 

 in life (changing to dull whitish in dried skins) ; terminal portion of bill 



1 Anous melanogenys Gray, Gen. B. iii. 1849, 661, pi. 182. 



2 Anous leucocapillus Gould, P. Z. S. 1845, 103 ; Birds Austr. pt. vii. 1848, pi. 35. 



3 Sterna tenuirostris Temm., PI. Col. 202 (1838). Anous tenuirostris Saunders, P. Z. S. 1876, 670, pi. 61, 

 fig. 1. 



