236 STERNIN^E. GELOCHELIDON. 



296. MEGALOPTERUS STOLIDUS. COMMON NODDY. 



Bill rather slender, black ; plumage sooty-brown ; primary 

 quills and tail-feathers brownish-black ; upper part of the 

 head greyish-white ; a black spot over the eyes. 



Male/16|, 32, 10|, 1|, tf, Ij, &. 



The Noddy is a native more especially of the intertropical 

 regions, and those on their margins, very seldom making its 

 appearance in the colder latitudes, and there only acciden- 

 tally. The occurrence of an individual or two on the south- 

 ern coasts of Ireland is, however, held sufficient to entitle it 

 to the rank of a British bird. 



Sterna stolida, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 227. Sterna stolida, 

 Lath. Ind. Ornith. ii. 805. Sterna stolida, Temm. Man. 

 d'Ornith. iv. 462. Megalopterus stolidus, Common Noddy, 

 MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, v. 



GENUS CXLVIII. GELOCHELIDON. GULL-TERN. 



The Prince of Canirio has separated the " Gull-billed 

 Tern" from the rest, and referred it to a genus, Gelocheli- 

 don, of which the characters differ little from those of Sterna, 

 the principal difference being in the bill, which approaches 

 in form to that of the Gulls, and in the legs, which are 

 longer than in the Terns. Bill about the length of the head, 

 rather stout, compressed, acute ; upper mandible with its 

 dorsal line nearly straight to beyond the nostrils, then ar- 

 cuato-declinate, the sides nearly erect toward the end, the 

 edges sharp and inflected, the tip narrow and rather obtuse ; 

 the nasal groove extending to half the length of the bill ; 

 lower mandible with the angle very narrow and acute, the 

 outline of the crura concave toward their junction, where a 

 prominence or angle is formed, the dorsal line ascending 

 and straight, the edges sharp and inclinate, the tip acute. 

 Palate with three longitudinal ridges ; tongue slender, ta- 

 pering to an acute horny point ; oesophagus very wide ; sto- 

 mach oblong, with the muscular coat rather thin, the tendons 

 round, the epithelium dense, strong, prominently rugous ; 

 intestine of moderate length and width ; coeca very small. 

 Feet small ; tibia bare to a considerable extent ; tarsus short, 

 compressed, anteriorly scutellate ; toes small, slender, the 

 fourth considerably shorter than the third ; the anterior 



