NODDY TERN. 



GA 



567 



LARIDJ?. 



ANOUS STOLIDUS (Linnaeus*). 

 THE NODDY TEEN. 



Sterna stolida. 



ANGUS, Stephens ex Leach M.S.-^ Bill longer than the head, rather slender, 

 with the culmen gradually decurved to the tip, which is acute, the lateral mar- 

 gin slightly curved ; the gonys well angulated ; nostrils lateral, basal, placed 

 near the middle of the bill, and longitudinal. Wings long and pointed, the first 

 quill-feather slightly the longest. Tail long andcuneate, and slightly emarginate. 

 Tarsi rather short ; the three front toes united by a full web ; hind toe small ; 

 claws strong and curved. 



Two examples of this inter-tropical Tern were recorded by 

 the late William Thompson (Mag. Zool. & Bot. i. p. 459) 

 as having been obtained between the Tusker Lighthouse 

 off the coast of Wexford, and Dublin Bay. They were 

 said to have been taken in the summer about four years 

 previous to 1834, by the captain of a vessel who brought them 

 to Mr. William Massey, of the Pigeon House, a name asso- 

 ciated with the capture of several of the rarest Irish birds ; 

 and one of these examples is now in the Science and Art 



* Sterna stolida, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 227 (1766). 

 t Shaw's General Zoology, xiii. pt. i. p. 139(1826). 



