NODDY TERN. 37 



observers have found the bird quite bold, so much so that it 

 has been known to settle down on its nest within sight of the 

 intruder. 



Nest. Mr. Robert Read tells me that in the south-east of 

 England he has never found any attempt at a nest, the eggs 

 being laid on the bare sand. Thus, too, I have found them 

 myself; but on the east coast of Scotland, Mr. Read says that 

 he has found some very pretty nests, consisting of a cup- 

 shaped hollow scooped out of the sand, and surrounded by a 

 rin of broken cockle-shells and other shells of various colours. 



3. Generally two, but sometimes three in number, vary- 

 ing to a remarkable extent in tint of ground-colour, from 

 greyish stone-colour to buff or clay-brown of different shades. 

 The markings are generally distributed over the whole surface 

 of the egg, and are, as a rule, scattered spots of deep reddish- 

 brown or black, occasionally confluent and forming a blotch, 

 but it is very seldom that large blotches are seen. The under- 

 lying grey spots are always more or less in evidence. Axis, 

 i "25-1 '4 inch; diam. 0*9-1 *o. 



THE NODDY TERNS. GENUS ANOUS. 



Anous, Steph. in Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiii. part i. p. 139 (1826). 



Type A. stolidus (L.). 



The Noddies are remarkable for their sombre plumage. 

 The tail is graduated, and the outer pair of tail-feathers are 

 shorter than the next pair, the fourth pair from the outside 

 being the longest. The toes are short, and the middle toe 

 and claw do not equal the culmen in length. The bill is 

 strong and decurved at the tip, and the distance from the 

 angle of the genys to the tip is less than the distance from 

 this angle to the gape. (Cf. Saunders, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxv. 

 P- 5-) 



I. THE NODDY TERN. ANOUS STOLIDUS. 



Sterna stolida, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 227 (1766); Seebohm, 



Hist. Brit. B. iii. p. 294 (1885). 

 Megalopterus stolidus, Macgill. Brit. B. v. p. 672 (1852). 



