232 SWIMMERS. 



NODDY. 



Angus stolidus. 



Char. Plumage deep sooty brown, darker on wings and tail, paler on 

 neck ; crown hoary gray, shading to white on the forehead. Length 

 about 15 inches. 



jVcst. Usually in a tree or low bush, sometimes on a cliff of a rocky 

 island, made of twigs lined with leaves and grass. 



E,^gs. I ; pale buff, sometimes tinged with slate, spotted with brown 

 and lavender; 2.00 X I.35- 



These common and well-known birds inhabit all parts of the 

 tropical seas, and migrate occasionally as far as the coasts of 

 the United States, at which times they are generally seen in 

 flocks, and are by no means rare. Famihar to mariners who 

 navigate in the equatorial regions, the Noddy, like the voyager, 

 frequents the open seas to the distance of some hundreds of 

 leagues from the land, and with many other birds of similar 

 appetites and propensities, it is seen in great flights assidu- 

 ously following the shoals of its finny prey. It pursues them 

 by flying near the surface of the water, and may now be 

 seen continually dropping on the small fish, which approach 

 the surface to shun the persecution of the greater kinds by 

 which they are also harassed. A rippling and silvery white- 

 ness in the water marks the course of the timid and tumultuous 

 shoals, and the whole air resounds with the clangor of these 

 gluttonous and greedy birds, who, exulting or contending for 

 success, fill the air with their varied but discordant cries. 

 Where the strongest rippling appears, there the thickest swarms 

 of Noddies and sea-fowl are uniformly assembled. They fre- 

 quently fly on board of ships at sea, and are so stupid or indo- 

 lent on such occasions as to suffer themselves to be taken by 

 the hand from the yards on which they settle ; they sometimes, 

 however, when seized, bite and scratch with great resolution, 

 leading one to imagine that they are disabled often from 

 flight by excessive fatigue or hunger. 



The Noddies breed in great numbers in the Bahama Islands, 

 laying their eggs on the bare shelvings of the rocks ; they also 



