laridjE—rhynchopin^E: skimmers. 1019 



plumage by white upper tail-coverts and lesser wing-coverts. Europe, Asia, Africa, etc. ; 

 Barbadoes (once) ; accidental in North America in one alleged instance (Lake Koshkonong, 

 Wisconsin, Am. Xat. viii, 1874, p. 188). 



ANOUS. (Gr. avovs, anous, mindless, regardless; i. e., stupid.) Noddies. Bill about as 

 long as head or longer, much longer than tarsus, moderately robust, as broad as high at base; 

 elsewhere depressed, tapering to the somewhat decurved tip. Fore end of nostrils nearly half- 

 way to end of bill, the fossae long and deep. No frontal antise; outline of feathers on base of 

 bill convex (reverse of Sterna, etc.). Wings moderately long for Sternince ; 2d primary little 

 shorter than 1st. Tail very long, broad, fan-shaped, dotible-rounded, i. e., graduated laterally, 

 yet with middle feathers shorter than next ])air. Tarsi shorter than middle toe without claw. 

 Lateral toes, especially the inner, lengthened ; hallux well developed. Webs broad and full, 

 not incised. Claws short, stout, little curved, very acute ; edge of middle claw dilated and 

 somewhat pectinate. Podotheca nearly smooth, from fusion of the plates, but a single defined 

 r(jw of scutella in front, with delicate reticulations elsewhere; soles of webs perfectly smooth. 

 Plumage dark, nearly unicolor. A remarkable genus forming (with Micranous, etc.) a super- 

 generic group (Anoe(j; or Megalopterecc) of Sternince. There are several species of warmer 

 parts of the world, all alike sooty-l>rown, with hoary or whitish cap. They alight with ease 

 on trees and bushes, where the bulky nest is usually built of sticks, etc., contrary to the rule 

 in the family Laridce. 



A. stol'idus. (Lat. s^oZic??<s, stolid, stupid.) Noddy Tern. Adult (^ 9 > breeding plumage : 

 Bill and claws black; mouth black to a little beyond the angle of the jaws, the fauces yellow- 

 ish; eyes brown; feet dark reddish-brown, nearly black in the dried skiu. Occiput bluish- 

 plumbeous, becoming pure white on the front. Sides of head and neck all round with a wash of 

 bluish-plumbeous, with a very dark spot anterior to and just above eye; coloration otlierwise 

 deep fuliginous brown, blackening cm remiges and rectrices. Young: Similar, not so dark, but 

 rather umber-brown, with pale grayish-brown cap, and whitish line over eye. Length KJ.OO; 

 extent 31.00; wing 10.00-11.00; tailG.OO; bill along culmen 1.75; height or width at base 

 0.38; tarsus 1.00; middle toe and claw 1.45; outer but slightly shorter; inner 1.20; hallux 

 0.40; breadth of webs 0.90; diameter of eye 0.30. Widely distributed over warmer parts of 

 the globe ; in North America, South Atlantic and Gulf States in summer ; breeds by thousands 

 on the low mangrove and other bushes, on which the nest is placed ; eggs sometimes laid on 

 slielvcs or in crevices of rocks, or on beaches. Egg averaging 2.05 X 1-35, warm buflf, spotted 

 and splashed with reddish-brown and neutral tints, chietly about the larger end. 



Subfamily RHYNCHOPIN/E : Skimmers. 



{Family Rynchopid^ of A. O. U.) 



Bill hypognathous. Among the singular bills of birds that may excite our wonder, that 

 of the Skiimners is one of the most anomalous. The under mandible is much longer than 

 the upper, compressed like a knife-blade ; its end is obtuse ; its sides come abruptly to- 

 gether and are completely soldered; the upper edge is as sharp as the under, and fits a groove 

 in the upper mandible; the jaw-bone, viewed apart, looks like a short-handled pitchfork. The 

 ujjpcr mandible is also compressed, but less so, nor is it so obtuse at the end ; its substance is 

 nearly lioUow, with liglit cancellated structure, much as in a Toucan; it is freely movable by 

 means of an elastic hinge at the forehead. There are also cranial peculiarities. Conformably 

 with the shape of the mouth, the tongue differs from that of other Longipennes in being very 

 short and stumpy, as in Kingfishers and Stcga>iopodcs. The wings are excecdiuijlv loiiir. and 

 the liiglit iiKirc incasund and sweeping than that of Terns; the birds fly in close flocks moving 

 simnlt.-ineously, rather than in straggling companies. They seem to feed as thev skim low 

 over the water, with the fore parts inclined downward, tlie under mandible probably grazing 

 or cuttini; the surface : but they are also said to use their odd bill to pry open weak bivalve 



