LESSER NODDY. 101 
feathers in front of the eye jet-black like the upper throat ; short feathers encircling 
the eye black with a white spot above and a short white line below ; bill and feet 
black; iris blackish Total length 330 mm.; culmen 45, wing 228, tail 118, 
tarsus 23. 
Adult female —Similar to the adult male. 
Immature——Pure or yellowish-white distinct cap on top of head ; lores black 
—otherwise dark brown throughout. 
Nestling—Sooty-brown, upper part of the head pale ash-grey forming a cap, 
becoming more whitish on the fore-head ; under-surface a shade paler. 
This may develop into a paler brown plumage with fainter tipping, which only 
lasts for a very short time, becoming darker and losing the tipping. 
Nest.—Slightly cupped, composed of fresh seaweed, which is firmly cemented 
to a bough of a tree. 
Egg.—Clutch, one ; ground-colour whitish, spotted round the larger end with 
reddish-brown ; sometimes a few pale grey spots over the rest of the egg; axis 
45-47 mm., diameter 31.5-33. 
Breeding-season.—November, December. (Norfolk Island.) 
Distribution and forms.—Throughout the tropical oceans, breeding on isolated 
islets. Mathews admitted seven subspecies, but we find that MZ. melanogenys (Gray) 
(=A. hawaiiensis Roths.) must be reinstated as a distinct species, having the grey 
head and neck of M. tenuirostris, but with the black lores of the present species and 
with a very distinct pale grey tail. This leaves six forms, as follows : M.m. minutus 
Boie (=A. leucocapillus Gould) from North-eastern Australian seas breeding on 
Norfolk Island and the Kermadecs (more than one subspecies may be here included) ; 
M.m. worcesteri (McGregor) from the Philippine Islands, in having a darker, greyer 
tail and longer toes; M. m. marcusi (Bryan) from Marcus Island (compared only 
with M. hawaiiensis Roths.) ; M.m. diamesus (Heller and Snodgrass) from the Cocos 
and Clipperton Islands, intermediate between M. leucocapillus and M. hawaiiensis 
in both colour of plumage and size of bill; IM. m. americanus Mathews from, the 
Caribbean Sea, British Honduras, separated by its stouter bill and browner tail, 
while it is less bluish-plumbeous on the upper back and throat ; and MW. m. allanticus 
Mathews from Ascension Island, St. Paul’s Rocks and Fernando Noronha with 
longer stouter bills, white more restricted to crown of head, long wings and blackish 
tail. 
73. Megalopterus tenuirostris.—_LESSER NODDY. 
[Sterna tenuirostris Teraminck et Laugier, Planch. Color. d’Ois., 34¢ livr. (Vol. II., pl. 202), 
(Vol. IV., pl. 104 ? May), July 26th, 1823: ‘‘ Senegal ’”’ errore = Seychelles. Extra-limital.] 
Gould, Vol. VII., pl. 35 (pt. xx), March Ist, 1846. Mathews, Vol. II., pt. 4, pl. 116, Nov. 
Ist, 1912. 
Anous melanops Gould, Proc. Zool. Soe. (Lond.), 1845, p. 103, Feb. 1846: Houtman’s Abrol- 
hos, West Australia. 
DIsTRIBUTION.—South-west Australia. 
Adult male—Entire wings, back, tail, breast and abdomen sooty-black, like 
the under-tail coverts and under wing-coverts ; head greyish-white becoming ash- 
grey on the hind-neck, darker on the sides of the neck, and inclining to black on the 
throat and fore-neck ; short feathers encircling the eye velvety-black, bill and feet 
black ; iris ashy. Total length 393 mm.; culmen (exp.) 39, wing 209, tail 112, 
tarsus 24. 
Adult female—Similar to the adult male. 
_ Young in down.—Sooty-black, upper part of the head mouldy-white, bill and 
feet black. 
Immature.—Does not appear to have been described ; may be similar to adult. 
