Genus ANOUS. 



Bill long and slender, but with the gonys well marked. Wings long. The tail cuneate. 

 Feet fully webbed. 



ANGUS STOLIDITS. 



(THE COMMON NODDY.) 



Sterna stolida, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 227 (1766). 



Sterna senew, Leach in Tuckey's Expedition to Congo, App. p. 408 (1818). 



Anons stolidus (Linn.), Gould, B. of Austr. vii. pi. 34 (1848) ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. 



p. 293 (1849); Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 845 (1864); Von Heuglin, Orn. N.Ost-Afr. 



ii. p. 1459 (1873) ; Salvadori, Uccelli di Born. p. 379 (1874) ; Legge, Str. Feath. 



1876, p. 247 (first record from Ceylon) ; Saunders, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 669 ; Hume, Str. 



Feath. 1876, p. 478, et 1879 (List B. of Ind.), p. 116. 



Adult (Ceylon). Wing 10-75 inches : tail 6-0 ; tarsus 1-0 ; middle toe 1*5 ; bill at front 1'75, to gape 2-1. 



Adult male and female (Laceadives). Length 15-62 to 16-5 inches ; wing 9-9 to 108 ; tail 5-8 to 6-35 ; tarsus 0-99 

 to 1'05 ; bill at front 1-65 to 1'76, to gape 2-25 to 2-4 (Hume). The smaller dimensions relate to females. — 

 Adults (Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans ; Mus. Saunders). Wing 10-2 to 11-4 inches ; tail 6-0 to 7'0 ; tarsus 

 0-97 to 1-02; middle toe (without claw) 1-27 ; bill at front 1-54 to 1-8. Female (Mus. Dresser). Wing 10'5; 

 tarsus 1*0 ; middle toe 1'3, its claw - 3 ; bill to gape 2-15, at front 1-7. 



(Laceadives, February.) Iris deep brown; bill black, orange at the gape ; legs and feet dusky vinous purple, webs 

 paler ; claws black (Hume). In a specimen shot in June in Ceylon the bill was entirely black, the legs and feet 

 dark fleshy brown, and the webs pale fleshy. 



Adult. Forehead and front of crown white, passing gradually into greyish white on the crown and thence into very 

 pale grey on the nape, which darkens imperceptibly into the smoky brown of the neck and upper surface ; neck 

 and throat slightly pervaded with grey, and the entire under surface a somewhat more earthy or chestnut colour 

 than the upper ; face round the gape slightly darker than the throat, and a black spot just in front of the eye, 

 the white of the forehead terminating abruptly against this spot and the brown of the lores in front of it ; centre 

 of the upper eyelid and all the lower half white ; lesser wing-coverts darker than the rest ; primaries and 

 secondaries brownish black : tail not so dark, but black at the tips of the feathers ; under wing-coverts very dark 

 smoky grey. 



The forehead and front of crown are whiter in some specimens than in others, the older birds being probably the 

 whiter ; the whole head and nape are in such specimens proportionately pale ; the upper surface in a series of 

 specimens before me varies from dark brown to reddish brown. Specimens from the Atlantic seem to be darker 

 than those from other parts. The extent of the dark spot in front of the eye varies, running forward in some 

 as a line bordering the white of the forehead nearly to the bill. 



Young, almost fledged (Mus. Saunders). Feathers dark smoky brown throughout, without any pale tippings ; throat, 

 nape, breast, and belly in white down ; the forehead as dark as the crown. 



Immature (Cocos Islands). Forehead completely brown ; back and wing-coverts brown : throat darker brown ; under 

 surface pale smoky brown, fading to greyish on the belly. In an example from the Pacific in moult from the 

 first plumage the forehead is white, not grading into the dark colour of the crown, but sharply defined against it, 

 and dark feathers are mingled with the white. 



Ohs. The stout bill and short gonys serve to distinguish this species from its allies. 



The Noddy inhabiting the Indian Ocean, which comes nearest to the present bird, is A. tenuirostris, Temm. It 



6s 



