102 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA . 



Nest. Constructed of seaweed, thrown across the branch, without any regard 

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

 height. 



Egg. Clutch, one ; ground-colour dull white, a ring round the larger composed 

 of dark brown blotches, a few spots of this colour and others of light grey sparingly 

 placed over the rest of the surface ; axis 43-46, diameter 29-31. 



Breeding-season. September to December. 



Distribution and forms. Apparently Indian Ocean only. Two forms have been 

 recognised : M. t. tenuirostris (Temminck and Laugier) from the Seychelles, and 

 M . t. melanops (Gould) from West Australia, differing in its smaller size. 



Genus ANGUS. 



Anous Stephens, in Shaw's Gen. Zool., Vol. XIII., pt. i., p. 139, Feb. 18th, 1826 (ex Leach 

 MS.). Type (by subsequent designation, Gray, p. 79, 1840) : A. niger Stephens = 5. stolida 

 Linnd. 



Stolida Lesson, Traite d'Orn., 8 livr., p. 620, June llth, 1831. Type (by monotypy) : 

 8. stolida Linne. 



Oavia Swainson, Classif. Birds, Vol. II., p. 373, July 1st, 1837. Type (by monotypy) : Oavia 

 leucoceps Swainson = Sterna stolida Linne. 

 Not Oavia Forster, Enchirid. Hist. Nat., p. 38, 1788. 



Aganophron Gloger, Hand- u. Hilfsb. Naturg., livr. 8, p. 463, (early) 1842. Type (by mono- 

 typy) : S. stolida Linn6. 



Noddi " Cuvier " Gray, Genera Birds, Vol. III., p. 661, Jan. 1846. In synonymy of Anous. 

 " Nodinus Bafin. ? " Gray, Cat. Gen. Subgen. Birds, p. 131, Oct. 1855. In synonymy of 

 Anous. 



This and the preceding genus of the Sternidce are characterised by the nature 

 of the bills and especially the formation of the tail. In no case are the outer rectrices 

 developed into streamers, but in some genera they are absolutely the shortest. 



Largest Noddies with long stout bills, long wings and tails (though no streamers 

 are present), short legs but long toes. 



The culmen is as long as the head, stout, broad at the base, much longer than 

 the tarsus. The nostrils are placed in a deep sulcus which extends almost half the 

 length of the bill, and the anterior end of the nostril is about half way from the base 

 of the bill to the tip. The tail is long, more than half the length of the wing, forked, 

 but the fourth pair of feathers from the outside is the longest, while the outside pair 

 is the shortest ; the middle pair is longer than the pair next the outside, but shorter 

 than the third pair from the outside, which is subequal with the fifth pair. The 

 toes are long and fully webbed, the inner and outer long and little less than the 

 middle one. 



Coloration uniformly blackish-brown, with a pale whitish cap. 



74. Anous stolidus. NODDY. 



[Sterna stolida Linne, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., p. 137, Jan. 1st, 1758 : Atlantic Ocean. Extra- 

 limital.] 



Gould, Vol. VII., pi. 34 (pt. xxn.), March 1st, 1846. Mathews, Vol. II., pt. 4, pi. 115. Nov. 

 1st, 1912. 



Anous stolidus gilberti Mathews, Birds Austr., Vol. II., pt. 4, p. 405, Nov. 1st, 1912 : Bedout 

 Island, West Australia. 



Anous stolidus antelius Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. III., pt. 6, p. 159, June 25th, 1918 : 

 Cooktown, North Queensland. 



DISTRIBUTION. Tropical Australian Seas. 



Adult male. General colour above and below sooty-brown, inclining to black 

 on the bastard-wing, primary-coverts and quills ; head and nape hoary-white ; 

 lores blackish, the short feathers encircling the eye white on the upper and under 



