656 NODDY TERN. 



members of the group of Noddies make a nest which is often of 

 large size, and is built of dry grass, bits of sea-weed, twigs, fish-bones 

 &c., not interwoven but laid in a heap, with merely a slight cavity 

 for the egg. The top of a cocoa-nut tree or the outer branches of 

 mangroves are sites often selected, while in some places the nests 

 are on shelving rocks beneath overhanging cliffs, or, more rarely, on 

 patches of sand and grassy slopes. Audubon, who was responsible 

 for an unconfirmed statement that the Sooty Tern habitually laid 

 three eggs, also asserted that the complement of the Noddy was the 

 same, but observers in all parts of the tropics are unanimous in stating 

 that this species never incubates more than one egg. The shell has 

 a somewhat dull and rough surface, and is ruddy-white or buff in 

 colour, sparsely blotched and freckled with reddish-brown : measure- 

 ments 2 by I "4 in. The yolk is bright yellow, whereas in the egg 

 of the Sooty Tern it is deep orange-red. In the northern hemisphere 

 breeding takes place in May or June, but in the southern tropics 

 there is great irregularity, and fresh eggs may be found from 

 September to January. As soon as the young are able to fly the 

 birds disperse over the ocean, and when fatigued they frequently 

 settle on vessels, exhibiting a stupidity or indifference which has 

 procured for this species its trivial, as well as its scientific, name. 

 The food consists of small fish, molluscs, medusae &c. 



The adult has the forehead and crown lavender-grey ; lores black ; 

 hind-neck and throat lead-coloured ; breast and belly dark brown ; 

 upper-parts sooty-brown, darker on the wings ; bill black ; legs and 

 feet reddish-brown, with yellowish fully developed webs. Length 

 16 in., wing io"5 in. In less mature birds the lores and the grey 

 colours are duller. The young bird has the forehead and crown 

 greyish-brown, while both upper and under-parts are dull umber. 

 In this and other membei's of the group the tail is graduated, and 

 not forked, the outer pair of tail-feathers being always shorter than 

 the next pair. Three smaller and distinct species of Noddy are also 

 found within the tropics ; while in Polynesian and Australian waters 

 there are yet two others, very closely related, but characterized by 

 their nearly uniform grey colour and still smaller size. 



Owing to a practical joke, which afterwards became a fraud, 

 Thompson was led to include the Swift Tern, S. bergii of Lichten- 

 stein {S. velox of Riippell) in his ' Birds of Ireland.' It is a purely 

 tropical species, and has not even wandered to the South of 

 Europe. 



