... 



STERNID.K. 



STILLINGIA. 



much in colour, the ground in ou>e being of a deep oil-green, in 

 othrra of a cream-white, or pale wood-brown, but all blotched with 

 kith-brown and ash-gray. " lu warm and dear weather," (ays 



ash-gray. 



Mr. Selby, in continuation, " this bird incubates but little during the 

 day, in such situations the influence of the sun upon the eggs being 

 sufficient ; but it siU upon them in the night, and also through the 

 day under a less favourable state of weather. The young, when 

 excluded, are corered with a mottled gray and white down, and are 

 amiduously attended by the parent*, and well supplied with food until 

 able to fly and accompany them to sea. During the time of incu- 

 bation the old birds display great anxiety, and are very clamorous 

 when any one approaches their station, in flying round and frequently 

 descending so near as to strike the hat of the intruder." 



The Tern was formerly considered choice food. Thus, in the 

 ' Household-Book of the Karl of Northumberland,' we find ' Ternes ' 

 among the delicacies for principal feasts or his lordship's own ' mees ;' 

 and they are charged at 4 J. a dozen. 



N. ilulida, the Noddy. In this form of Tern the wings reach 

 beyond the rounded tail. Forehead white, passing into gray-ash 

 towards the top of the head, and into a deeper gray at the occiput, 

 in front of the eyes a deep black patch ; throat and cheeks gray- 

 brown ; all the upper and lower plumage chocolate or sooty-brown. 

 Bill and feet block. (Summer or nuptial dress.) Length about a foot 



It is principally found in America, where its head-quarters appear 

 to be the Gulf of Mexico, the coasts of Florida, and the Bahama 

 Island*. Dr. Latham was told that they breed in great numbers on 

 certain small rocky islands near St. Helena. Mr. Audubou observed 

 numbers collected from the American coasts above mentioned in 

 1832, on one of the Tortugas. called, from the flocks that visit it, 

 Noddy Key. 



Mr. Oould remarks that the Noddy, unlike the generality of terns, 

 builds in bushes on low trees, making a large nest of twigs and dry 

 grass, while hovering over or near which the old birds utter a low 

 querulous murmur : the eggs, three in number, are reddish-yellow, 

 with dull red and purple patches and spots, and the young are said 

 to be very good eating. It does not take its prey like the other 

 Terns, but as it skims along the water; and, when full grown, seeks 

 its food at much greater distances from the laud than the rest of the 

 group. 



Two were shot off Wexford in Ireland in 1830. Temminck states 

 that it has been seen in France, but he had never seen it on the 

 coaiU of Holland. 





The Noddy (Slirna itolUa). 



Mr. Kuttall give* a lively description of its habits : " Familiar to 

 mariner* who navigate in the equatorial regions, the noddy, like the 

 voyager, frequents the open was to the distance of some hundreds of 

 leagues from the land, and with many other birds of similar appetites 

 and propensities, they are seen in great flights, assiduously following 

 the shoal* of their finny prey. Tbey pursue them by flying near 

 the rorface of the water, and may now be seen continually dropping 

 on the small fish, which approach the surface to shun the persecution 

 of thn greater kind*, by which they are also harassed. A rippling 

 and nlrery whiteness in the water mark* the course of the timid and 

 tumultuous shoal* ; and the whole air resounds with the clangor of 

 thaw gluttonous and greedy birds, who, exulting or contending for 

 oeani, fill the air with their varied but discordant cries. Where 

 thn strongest rippling appears, there the thickest swarm of noddies 

 and tea-fowl are uniformly u-cmblcd. They frequently fly on board 

 of ships at sea, and are so stupid or indolent on such occasions, ns to 

 suffer themselves to be Uken by (he hand from the yards on which 

 they settle : they sometimes however, when seized, bite and scratch 

 with great resolution, leading one to imagine that they are disabled 

 often from flight by excessive fatigue or hunger. Some have imagined 

 that the appearance of the noddy at sea indicate! the proximity of 

 land ; but in the manner of the common tern, they adventure out to 

 sea, and, like the mariner himself, tiio shelter of whose friendly 

 vessel they seek, they often voyage at random for several days at a 

 lini". committing themselves to the mercy of the boundless ocean ; 

 and having at certain seasons no predilection for places, where tho 



climate suite, the roving flocks or stragglers find equally a home on 

 every coast, shoal, or island." (' Manual of Ornithology.') 



The vessel however is not always friendly. Bligh found the bird 

 a seasonable supply to himself and his famished crew in his celebrated 

 boat-voyage after the munity of the Bounty ; and Byron has uxed the 

 incident in the scene after the shipwreck iu ' Don Juan.' [Boour. | 



STKUNOTHK'RUS. [CuELOHU-J 



ST Kit NUM. [SKELETON.] 



STICHOSTEOA. [FOBAMINIFERA.] 



STICKLEBACK. [GASTEUOSTEUS.] 



ST1CTA. [LICHENS.] 



STIGMA. [Pistiu] 



STIGMARIA. [COAL-PLANW.] 



STILAGINA'CE.<E, a small natural order of Plants belonging to 

 the rectembryose group of Apetalous Exogens. They are trees or 

 shrubs, with alternate simple stipulate leaves, the stipules being 

 deciduous. The flowers are unisexual, mostly seated on amentiform 

 spikes or racemes. Calyx 3-5-parted ; stamens two or more, arising 

 from an enlarged receptacle with capillary filaments and 21obed 

 anthers dehiscing transversely ; ovary superior, stigma sessile ; fruit 

 a drupe with one seed, which is pendulous; the embryo is green, 

 lying in the midst of fleshy albumen. 



The species of this order are all of them natives of the East. In 

 its relations this order is obscure. It has some resemblance to 

 L'rlicacfce, from which it is distinguished by its enlarged disc, its 

 peculiar anthers, and unelastic filaments. In these characters it 

 resembles IlentlovuLcece, but they differ from this order in having but 

 one carpel and a single seed. Many of the fruits of this order have 

 a pleasant subacid flavour, and are eaten by the natives of the East 

 Indies. 



STILA'GO, a genus of Plants sometimes united with, at other times 

 separated from, the genus Antidctma, belonging to the natural family 

 Antidetinar, which by some botanists is called StUcujinaettt. The 

 species are few iu number, forming shrubs and moderate-sized trees, 

 which are found in Madagascar and Mauritius, as well as in some of 

 the Indian islands, and in India, where the species extend even to 

 northern parts. The genus is characterised by having dioecious 

 flowers, the mole having a 3- or 5-parted perianth. Stamens 2, 3, or 

 5, inserted in an annular disc with the rudiment of an ovary. The 

 female flower has the perianth of the mole, and the disc surrounding 

 the base of the ovate single-celled ovary. Ovules 2, pendulous from 

 the apex of the cell. Stigma sessile, 3- to 5-rayed. Drupe 1 -seeded, 

 crowned by tho stigma, with the nut rugosj both inside and out. 

 Albumen fleshy, scrobiculate. Cotyledons foliaceoua. Embryo inverse. 

 The flowers are arranged in axillary catkin-like spikes. The leaves of 

 Antidctma aUntcria are employed in the Mauritius as au antidote 

 against snake-bites. Cordage is mado with its bark, as well as with 

 that of A. Zeylanica iu Ceylon. The small fruits of both species are 

 eaten and preserved : the fruits of A. pubescent (Slilago), liuniat, and 

 Diandra, are eaten by the natives of India. 



.VI'lUiA'CK.K, a small natural order of Plants belonging to the 

 nucamontose group of Monopetalous Exogens. They ore small 

 shrubs, with the habit of a 1'hylica, or a Fir, having whorled close 

 narrow entire leathery rigid leaves, articulated at the base and 

 without stipules. The flowers ore arranged in dense spikes at tho 

 points of the branches; they are sessile, each having three bracts at 

 its base. They differ but little from Sdaginacta, except in their 

 2-celled anthem, their erect ovules, and iu the want of an hypogynous 

 disc. Kuntb, who formed this order, points out also its relation to 

 (jlobulariacca, and places it intermediate between that order and 

 Sclaginaccac. The order consists of only two genera, f^lilbe and 

 C'ami'i/loslachyi, both of which are natives of the Cape of Good Hope. 



8T1LB1TK. [ZEOLITES.] 



STILLI'NQIA, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Euithorl/iacea, so named in compliment to Dr. Stillingfleet, known as an 

 Kuglivli botanist. The genus now includes the species of Sapium, and 

 is distinguished by one of its species being the famous Tallow-Tree of 

 China. The generic character of Still inyta is : Flowers monoocious ; 

 males aggregate; calyx cup-shaped, creuulate, or bifid ; stamens two, 

 inserted ; filaments united at tho base ; anthers opening outwards: 

 female flowers solitary ; calyx tridentate or tritid ; ovary sessile) 

 3-ct-lled, each cell with a single ovule ; style short, thick ; stigmas three, 

 simple, spreading; capsule globose, tricoccous; cocci single-seeded. 

 The species consist of milky trees or shrubs, found in tho tropical 

 parts of Asia and America, and likewise in the islands of Bourbon and 

 Mauritius. The leaves are alternate, petiolate ; petioles bi-glandular at 

 the apex. Male flowers usually crowded in terminal spikes, supported 

 at the base by a hi glandular bract. The female flower is commonly 

 below the spike, sometimes subsolitary on another branch. 



S. Mii/ero, the Tallow-Tree of China, at one time attracted consi- 

 derable attention, and was introduced into various European colonies 

 in the East and West Indies. It may be met with in our hothouses. 

 Dr. Roxburgh describes the plant as common in his time about Calcutta, 

 but that it did not yield any useful product, and was therefore only an 

 ornamental tree, being in flower and fruit most parts of the year. It 

 is found in China on the borders of rivulets, and is also cultivated. It 

 grows to the height of a pear-tree, having a trunk and branches like 

 the cherry, and foliage like the black poplar, but which turns red in 



