LARin^ — STERN IN 2E: TEENS. 771 



below, white, abruptly contrasting with dark slate of the rump and black of the belly, the tail- 

 feathers shaded with pearly-gray toward their ends. Length (of skin) 8.00 ; wing 7-50 ; tail 

 2.75, forked under 0.50 ; bill along culmen 0.90, along gape 1.20, height at base 0.20 ; tarsus 

 0.75 ; middle toe and claw 0.87. Resembling the last, and changes of plumage correspondent; 

 distinguished in any plumage by white upper tail-coverts and lesser wing-coverts. Europe; 

 accidental in N. A. in one instance (Wisconsin). 

 316. AJVOtJS. (Gr. avovs, anous, mindless, regardless; i. e. stupid.) Noddies. Bill about as 

 long as head or longer, much longer than tarsus, moderately robust or very slender, depressed, 

 as broad as high at base ; elsewhere depressed, tapering to an acuminate and somewhat de- 

 curved tip. Fore end of nostrils nearly half-way to end of biU, the foss* long and deep. No 

 frontal antia;; outline of feathers on base of bill convex (reverse of Sterna). Wings but mod- 

 erately long for this subfemily, the second primary but little shorter than the first. Tail very 

 long, broad, fan-shaped, douUe-rounded, i. e., graduated laterally, yet with central feathers 

 shorter than the next. Tarsi very short, robust, less than the middle toe without its claw. 

 Lateral toes, especially the inner, unusually lengthened ; hallux well developed. Webs broad 

 and fuU, not incised. Claws short, stout, little curved, but very acute. Podotheca nearly 

 smooth, from tendency to fusion of the plates, there being but a single defined row of scutella 

 in front, with delicate reticulations elsewhere ; soles ^>i the webs perfectly smooth. Edges of 

 middle claw cUlated and somewhat pectinate. Plumage dark or nearly unieolor. A remark- 

 able genus. There are several species of warmer parts of the world, all alike sooty-brown, 

 with hoary or whitish head. They alight with ease on trees and bushes, where the nest is 

 usually placed. 

 808. A. sto'lldus. (Lat. stoUdus, stoUd, stupid.) Noddy Tern. Adult, breeding plumage: 

 B. .th mandibles marked with more or less distinct longitudinal stria; ; their tomia inflected. 

 Nasal sulcus deep and long, formed by the rounded culmen and a prominent ridge, which runs 

 along the upper mandible from its base to beyond the nostrils, where it is gradually lost. Just 

 above the base there is a small but distinct fossa, separated by an oblique ridge from the large 

 nasal sulcus. Culmen about straight for half its length, regularly decurved toward the tip, 

 basally broad and flat. Commissure slightly declinato-convex. Outline both of rami and gonys 

 concave, the former most so ; eminentia symphysis iUy defined and not acute. Primaries uni- 

 eolor, vei-y broad almost to their tips, which are rounded ; first primary scarcely surpassing the 

 second. Tail very long and much graduated ; but there is also a slight emargination, the two 

 central rectrices being a little shorter than the next pair. Bill and claws black. Mouth black 

 to a little beyond the angle of the jaws, the fauces yellowish. Eyes brown. Tarsi and toes 

 dark reddish-brown, nearly black in the dried skin. Occiput bluish-plumbeous, becoming 

 pure white on the fi-ont. Sides of the head and neck all round with a decided wash of bluish- 

 plumbeous. The whole body is a deep fuliginous brown, growing almost black on the remiges 

 and rectrices, with a very dark spot anterior to and just above the eye. Dimensions : length 

 16 inches; extent of wings 31.00; wing from flexure 10.00 to 11.00; tail about 6.00; bUl 

 along culmen 1.75; height or width at base 0.38; tarsus 1.00; middle toe and claw 1.45; 

 outer ditto but slightly shorter; inner ditto 1.20; hallux 0.40 ; breadth of webs 0.90 ; diam 

 eter of eye 0.30. Widely distributed over warmer parts of the globe; in N. Am., S. Atlantic 

 and Gulf States, breeding by thousands on the low mangrove and other bushes, where the 

 bulky nest of sticks is placed. Eggs 3, about 2.00 X 1.35, warm buff, spotted and splashed 

 with reddish-brown and neutral tints. 



