THE LACCADIVES AND THE WEST COAST. 479 
fresh egos. Of the numbers we procured, only one was a young 
bird, all the rest were in full breeding plumage. The following 
are the dimensions of two males and two females measured in 
the flesh, The dimension of the males being the first two of 
the four given :— 
Length, 16"°5, 15°75, 159, 15°62; expanse, 33"2, 83’-75, 
31”75, 32"°0; tail from vent, 67°35, 5’°8, 5"9, 6"-0 ; wing, 108, 
10:5, 9-9, 10"-45; tarsus, 1°05, 1"°0; 0":99,. 0" 955 bill from 
gape, 23, 2”°4, 23, 2"°25 ; billat front from margin of feathers, 
Tito GS. Leb, 
The irides were deep brown; bill, black, orange at the angle 
of the gape; the legs and feet were a dusky vinous purple; 
the webs, paler and more dove colour; the claws, black. 
In the full breeding plumage the general colour is a dull 
smoky somewhat chocolate brown; the primaries and their 
greater coverts, being much darker ; the former in some speci- 
mens almost black, A spot immediately in front of the eye, black, 
this is prolonged forwards to the bill—sometimes occupying 
nearly the whole of the lores, sometimes as a narrow line skirt- 
ing the white of the forehead ; backwards it is prolonged along 
the upper eyelid, but is interrupted a little beyond the middle 
of the eye by a white spot on the upper eyelid; the lower 
eyelid is fringed with white; the whole of the forehead and 
erown is white, delicately shaded with pale french grey, soine- 
times with brownish grey ; the margin of this, from the culmen 
to above the centre of the eye, is always purer white than the 
rest of the crown, and is sometimes a conspicuous white line 
abutting on the black of the upper portion of the lores—some- 
times the crown and forehead are unicolorous, sometimes the 
forehead is conspicuously whiter and less grey. 
The whole nape, back, and sides of the neck are more or less 
shaded with grey. In many specimens, a tinge of this same 
color pervades the chin and throat, and sometimes many of 
the feathers of the back and lower parts exhibit a good deal of 
this ashy shade, so that, even amongst breeding adults, some 
birds are altogether greyer, and others, altogether browner. 
In the one young bird that we obtained, a bird certainly of 
the previous season, but which for some reason had not moulted 
into full plumage, the whole of the feathers except the quills 
and tail feathers were light earthy wood brown; the top and 
sides of the head are grey mouse brown, with only a very 
narrow greyish white line from the top of the eye to the bill, 
defining the black of the upper portion of the lores. 
The three species of Noddy which have as yet been found 
within our limits differ sufficiently to permit of their being 
readily distinguished. These three as I at present identity them 
N 3 
