356 Synopsis of the Birds 



Sooty Tern, Sterna fuliginosa, Wits. Am. Orn. viii.p. 145. 



pi. 72. Jig. 7. 



Inhabits the tropical seas : common during summer on the 

 southern and south-eastern coasts of the United States. 



291. Sterna stoi.ida, L. Bill black; crown whitish; tail 

 rounded ; webs entire. 



Noddy, Sterna stolid a, JVob. Am. Orn. iv. Hirondelle 

 de mer brune de la Louisiane. Buff. pi. enl. 997. 



Inhabits all parts of the tropical seas, migrating occasion- 

 ally to the North American coasts : not very rare. 



65. LARUS. 



Larus, L. Briss. Gm.Lath. 111. Cuv. Temm. Vieill. Ranz. 



Larus, Gavia, Xema, BoiL 



Bill moderate, robust, hard, straight, compressed, naked 

 at base, edges bent inward, sharp ; upper mandible rounded 

 above, curved at the point, sharpish ; lower somewhat shorter, 

 gibbous and angular beneath the point, obliquely truncated 

 at tip : nostrils medial, lateral, longitudinal, linear, wider and 

 rounded anteriorly, open, pervious : tongue acute, hardly cleft 

 at tip. Head rather large; eyes moderate ; neck moderate, 

 stout; body plump, compressed. Feet moderate, rather slen- 

 der; tarsus nearly equal to the middle toe; webs entire; lateral 

 toes margined exteriorly with a narrow membrane; middle toe 

 longest, but of moderate length ; outer longer than the inner; 

 hind toe very small, articulated high and posteriorly with the 

 tarsus, raised from the ground : nails small, curved, rather 

 acute, dilated interiorly into an edge ; middle twice as large 

 as the others ; hind nail sometimes wanting. Wings long, 

 acute; quills stiff; first and second primaries subequal, long- 

 est. Tail almost always even, of twelve feathers. 



Female somewhat smaller, but perfectly similar in color 

 to the male. Young for several years, the larger species 

 four or five, very different from the adult. Moult twice a 



