STERNINJE. MEGALOPTERUS. 235 



quented by about two hundred individuals. At the mouth 

 of the Frith of Forth it is also not of rare occurrence. Its 

 appearance on wing is very singular, it being extremely ac- 

 tive and lively, as well as vociferous. It advances by quick 

 beats of the wings, performed at considerable intervals, with 

 a gliding, undulated, and most buoyant and unsteady mo- 

 tion, hovers like a hawk, and darts down headlong on its 

 prey. The eggs, two or three in number, are coloured like 

 those of the Common Tern, an inch and two-twelfths long, 

 eleven-twelfths in breadth. 



Sterna minuta, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 228. Sterna minuta, 

 Lath. Ind. Ornith. ii. 809. Sterna minuta, Temm. Man. 

 d'Ornith. ii. 752. Sterna minuta, Little Tern, MacGillivray, 

 Brit. Birds, v. 



GENUS CXLVIL MEGALOPTERUS. NODDY. 



This genus differs from Sterna in the form of the bill, 

 which is more slender and elongated, and especially in that 

 of the tail, which, in place of being forked, is just the re- 

 verse, or graduated. The bill is longer than the head, slender 

 but rather strong, compressed, very acute ; upper mandible 

 with the dorsal line nearly straight, the sides convex, the 

 edges sharp and inflected, the tip acute ; the nasal grooves 

 extended to beyond half the length of the bill, and slightly 

 deflected toward the edges ; lower mandible with the angle 

 very narrow, acute, the dorsal line straight, the sides convex, 

 the edges sharp and inflected, the tip extremely acute. 

 Mouth rather wide ; tongue very slender, tapering to a horny 

 point, grooved above ; oesophagus very wide, much dilated 

 at its lower part ; stomach very small, with its muscles thin, 

 and the epithelium dense and longitudinally rugous ; intes- 

 tine of moderate length, narrow ; coeca very small. Nos- 

 trils submedial, linear, pervious. Eyes of moderate size. 

 Apertures of ears moderate. Feet very short, rather stout ; 

 tibia bare for a short space ; tarsus very short, roundish, 

 with small anterior scutella ; toes slender, the fourth nearly 

 as long as the third ; the anterior toes with emarginate 

 webs ; claws compressed, acute. Plumage soft, close, blend- 

 ed, very short on the head ; wings very long, narrow, point- 

 ed ; the primary quills tapering to a rounded tip ; tail long, 

 graduated, of twelve tapering, rounded feathers. 



