258 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology. 



Anous pullus.i sp. noT. 



Type.— Mus. Comp. Zool., No. 37^98. 



Two specimens, an adult $ and an adult 9> from a small rocky island near 

 Iiiomote, June 10. [Eggs, one in a clutch, laid on the bare rock, were taken 

 July 1.] 



Characters. — A large very dark brown noddy with a gray crown, nearest to 

 A, rousseaui Hartl. of Madagascar and adjacent islands, from which it differs 

 by being much darker in color and slightly smaller in size. 



Color. — Adults, in unworn, full breeding plumage. Narrow superciliary 

 streak, ending above eye, lower eyelid, and a spot on upper eyelid whitish ; 

 forehead pearl gray, this color extending over crown and gradually darkening 

 to slate gray on occiput, and thence merging on hind neck into the brown 

 of upper parts ; lores and region above the eye below the whitish streak black ; 

 upper parts rich dark chocolate brown, with a slight grayish cast ; primaries 

 and rectrices dark blackish brown; chin and sides of head blackish slate ; rest 

 of under parts deep chocolate brown ; lining of wing brownish slate ; bill, in 

 dried specimens, black ; feet and toes reddish brown. 



Measurements : — 

 No. Sex. 



37.297 cf Topotype. 



37.298 $ Type. 



Remarks. — A comparison of the two specimens upon which I base this new 

 noddy with the material in the National Museum and the Museum of Com- 

 parative Zoology shows them to be much nearer to A. rousseaui than to any 

 of the other forms. The comparison was made with skins of A. rousseaui 

 from the Seychelles and Mauritius. The Liu Kiu birds are much darker in 

 color throughout, especially so about chin, sides of neck, and breast, and they 

 are also smaller, the wing of the Mauritius specimen being 285 mm. long, and I 

 have no hesitation in proposing a name for the Liu Kiu noddy. 



Compared with other noddies, the differences are still greater ; thus the Liu 

 Kiu form is much darker than A. ridgimyi Anthony from Socorro and Tres 

 Marias, especially about sides of head and throat, and the crown is darker and 

 grayer. 



From A. galapagensis Sharpe the new species differs in not having so black 

 a body or such a dark gray crown. 



From the noddy of eastern America — true A. stolidus — the Liu Kiu bird 

 is very distinct, and can at once be told by its larger size and gray crown and 

 forehead, the forehead and most of the crown in A. stolidus being white or 

 yellowi.-sh white. 



A. puling differs much from the small slender-billed species, A. leucocapillus. 

 A. hawaiiensis, and A. tcnuirostris, in being larger and having a stouter bill. 



1 Pullus, dark coloreJ, dusky. 



