846 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



summery appears to assume a delicate purplish ash-colour as far 

 as the crown, gradually shading into the brown of the occiput ; 

 lower parts slightly lighter than above. 



Length 14^ to 16 inches ; of one of the latter dimensions, wing 

 11^; tail 5^; bill 1^; one of the smaller dimensions had the 

 wing 10^ ; tail 6 ; bill 1| ; tarsus 1 ; middle toe 1|. 



The young bird has the feathers blackish, edged with white. 



Bonaparte separates stolidus of Linnoeus from the species figured 

 as such by Gould. 



994. Anous tenuirostris, Temminck. 



Sterna apud Temminck PI. col. ;g02 — Blyth. Cat. 1716 — A. 

 leucocapillus, Gould, Birds of Australia, VII. pi. 36.? 



The White-headed Noddy. 



Descr. — Fore-head and crown pearly white ; the rest of the 

 plumage sooty-brown ; quills blackish-brown, the first black on 

 their outer webs. 



Bill black ; gullet pale-yellow ; feet black with the web fleshy- 

 yellow. Length 11 to 12 inches; wing 8f ; tail 5|- ; bill at front 

 2^ ; tarsus f ; middle toe \^. Heuglin gives one as 14 inches 

 long; wing 9^; and it is doubtful if Temminck's species be identical 

 with Gould's ; indeed Bonaparte separates it under the name senex, 

 Leach. 



These two species of Noddy, which resemble each other 

 very closely, are occasionally killed in the Bay of Bengal and 

 the Indian Ocean ; and are found over a vast extent of tropical 

 and sub-tropical seas. They breed on clefts of rocks, laying two 

 or three whitish eggs with large brown blotches. The latter species 

 is said to be found in countless numbers in the Red Sea, and to 

 breed on islands there. Two or three other races are given by 

 systematists as distinct ; and some have been generically separated 

 as Procelsterna by Lafresnaye. 



Skimmers. 

 Gen. Rhynchops, Linnaeus. 



Char. — Bill with the vipper mandible much shorter than the 

 lower one, exceedingly compressed, long, straight, the tip of both 

 mandibles truncated ; wings long ; feet short ; webs excised. 



