1044 ANOUS STOLIDTLS. 



differs in its more slender bill, wilh the gonys longer than in A. stolidus; the forehead and crown are whitish 

 urey, there being no difference in line, whereaa in the Common Noddy the crown is not so white as the forehead ; 

 again, the whitish hue of the forehead descends upon the lores, leaving merely a black border in front of the eye ; 

 the hind neck is pale grey, slightly darker than the crown : the chin blackish brown; the bill varies from 1-5 to 

 1*7 at front, aud the wing from 8 to 9 inches. A. leucacapillus, Gould, appears to wander north from Australia 

 into the Indian Ocean. It is a species with a white forehead and head, and very dark, almost black, lores ; the 

 dark brown of the ear-coverts, sides of neck, aud nape is sharply defined against the white of the head ; the wing 

 is slightly longer thau in A. tenuirostris, 9 - to 9-5 inches ; the bill slender, but with a shorter gonys than in the 

 last-named bird. 



Distribution. — This widely distributed Noddy has only recently been added to the avifauna of Ceylon. 

 On the occasion of its visit to the island, which was on the 5th of June, 1876, a flock of four individuals 

 were seen flying along the Galle-face beach in the morning by the taxidermist of the Colombo Museum, 

 who shot one of them, which is now preserved in the collection of that institution. As the species breeds in 

 the Laccadives it is singular that it is not seen on the west coast during strong westerly winds, the only 

 explanation being that before the S.W. monsoon sets in in May the birds have left the breeding-place and 

 are scattered over the Indian Ocean. I have seen Noddies on more than one occasion a day or two's sail 

 south of Point Galle, which probably belonged to this species, and Pere David met with thousands not far 

 from Ceylon in July 1870. The Common Noddy has a very wide range, occurring right round the world in 

 tropical waters, and straying as far north in the Atlantic as the British Isles, in the Pacific up to Formosa, 

 aud in the Indian Ocean as high as the Gulf of Oman and the Bay of Bengal, in which latter waters it is 

 common, being found as far north as the Sandheads. It is met with occasionally at the Andamans, and on 

 the opposite side of the peninsula affects some of the coral islands of the Laccadive group in great numbers, 

 breeding at the Chcrbaniani reef; further north Captain Butler saw it along the Mekran coast. In the Red 

 Sea it ranges as far north as the tropic, beyond which Heuglin states that he has not seen it. Off the 

 Somauli coast, according to this author, the numbers which frequent rocky islands and cliffs is quite 

 incredible. Along the tropical shores of Eastern Africa it is common, extending to the Seychelles, Madagascar, 

 .Mauritius, Reunion, and Rodriguez. On the eastern confines of the Indian Ocean it is abundant along the 

 shores of Australia, and ranges round the southern coasts to South Australia and Victoria, although it has 

 not been noticed on the Tasmanian coasts. In the north of the continent it is recorded from Port Darwin, 

 the Gulf of Carpentaria, and Cape York, extending from the latter all down the east coast. At Raine's Island 

 the naturalists of the ' Challenger' found it breeding, and also met it abundantly at the Admiralty Islands. 

 1 find it is not uncommon in the Pelew Islands, and from the Philippines it has been once recorded. 

 Elsewhere it has been met with at the Caroline Islands, at Ponape in the Seniavin group, in New Caledonia, 

 Tahiti, and many other Polynesian islands. It is found also at the Galapagos Islands and on the tropical 

 portions of both coasts of the continent of America. In the Atlantic it has been procured at Ascension, where 

 it breeds in limited numbers, also at St. Helena and Tristan d'Acunha, which is its furthest limit towards 

 the south — its most northerly range being the vicinity of the British Isles, in the avifauna of which it is 

 included. 



Habits. — Dwelling almost entirely upon the ocean, over whose wide expanse they roam in search of 

 subsistence, the Noddies resemble the Petrels more than the Terns in their mode of life. They are birds of 

 swift and enduring flight, but keep, as a rule, near the surface of the water, though they do not "shear" 

 over the waves in the same manner as the Shearwaters. They fly like other Terns, but when they espy 

 their food they settle on the water like Petrels to pick it up. This species feeds on mollusks, oily matter, 

 garbage, and other substances which it finds floating on the sea. I have never heard their note, though I 

 have often seen them, and I imagine that, except in the breeding-season, the Noddies are very silent birds. 



Nidijication. — The Common Noddy breeds in large colonies, laying at various times of the year, according 

 to season, in the part of the world it resorts to. The nearest breeding-place to Ceylon is in the Laccadives, 

 where Mr. Hume found it nesting in great numbers at the Chcrbaniani reef in February. In the southern 

 hemisphere it breeds at the Houtmanu's Ahrolhos and at Raine's Island in August, and also in the same 



