NATATORES. 417 



formed with a considerable action of the wings ; at the same 

 time the bird is capable of sustaining itself for a long time 

 just above the surface of the water, and of frequently making 

 abrupt and rapid turns while engaged in the search of its 

 prey ; its soft and dense plumage renders it extremely 

 buoyant, and, as the largely-developed membrane of the feet 

 would indicate, it swims witli great ease. 



The sexes are so nearly alike, that by dissection alone can 

 they be distinguished ; and the young acquire the plumage 

 of the adult at a very early age. 



Upper and under surface chocolate-brown ; crown of the 

 head pale grey, gradually blending with the brown of the 

 upper surface ; primaries and tail brownish black ; imme- 

 diately before and above the anterior angle of the eye a spot 

 of black ; irides brown ; bill black ; feet dull brownish red ; 

 webs dusky ; claws black. 



Sp. 614. ANGUS MELANOPS, Gould. 



Lesser Noddy. 



Anous ? (Lesser Noddy), Gould in Proc. of Zool. See, part xii. 



p. 36. 

 Anous melanops, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc, part xiii. p. 104. 



Anous melanops, Gould, Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vii. pi. 35. 



All that has been said respecting the Noddy is equally 

 descriptive of this bird. It is as abundant in Australian seas, 

 and at the breeding-season resorts to similar situations. On 

 the Houtmann's Abrolhos it is even more numerous than the 

 A. stolidus ; like that bird, it is truly gregarious, the nests 

 being arranged as closely as possible on the branches of the 

 mangrove, at a height of from four to ten feet above the ground, 

 the sea-weed of which each nest is constructed being merely 

 thrown across the branch, without any regard to form, until 

 it has accumulated to a mass varying from two to four inches in 

 height ; in many instances long pieces of sea-weed hang down 



VOL. II. 2 E 



