656 NODDY TERN. 
members of the group of Noddies make a nest which is often of 
large size, and is built of dry grass, bits of sea-weed, twigs, fish-bones 
&c., not interwoven but laid in a heap, with merely a slight cavity 
for the egg. The top of a cocoa-nut tree or the outer branches of 
mangroves are sites often selected, while in some places the nests 
are on shelving rocks beneath overhanging cliffs, or, more rarely, on 
patches of sand and grassy slopes. Audubon, who was responsible 
for an unconfirmed statement that the Sooty Tern habitually laid 
three eggs, also asserted that the complement of the Noddy was the 
same, but observers in all parts of the tropics are unanimous in stating 
that this species never incubates more than one egg. ‘The shell has 
a somewhat dull and rough surface, and is ruddy-white or buff in 
colour, sparsely blotched and freckled with reddish-brown : measure- 
ments 2 by 14 in. The yolk is bright yellow, whereas in the egg 
of the Sooty Tern it is deep orange-red. In the northern hemisphere 
breeding takes place in May or June, but in the southern tropics 
there is great irregularity, and fresh eggs may be found from 
September to January. As soon as the young are able to fly the 
birds disperse over the ocean, and when fatigued they frequently 
settle on vessels, exhibiting a stupidity or indifference which has 
procured for this species its trivial, as well as its scientific, name. 
The food consists of small fish, molluscs, medusz &c. 
The adult has the forehead and crown lavender-grey ; lores black ; 
hind-neck and throat lead-coloured ; breast and belly dark brown ; 
upper-parts sooty-brown, darker on the wings; bill black; legs and 
feet reddish-brown, with yellowish fully developed webs. Length 
16 in., wing 10°5 in. In less mature birds the lores and the grey 
colours are duller. The young bird has the forehead and crown 
greyish-brown, while both upper and under-parts are dull umber. 
In this and other members of the group the tail is graduated, and 
not forked, the outer pair of tail-feathers being always shorter than 
the next pair. Three smaller and distinct species of Noddy are also 
found within the tropics ; while in Polynesian and Australian waters 
there are yet two others, very closely related, but characterized by 
their nearly uniform grey colour and still smaller size. 
Owing to a practical joke, which afterwards became a fraud, 
Thompson was led to include the Swift Tern, .S. dexgé7 of Lichten- 
stein (.S. velox of Riippell) in his ‘ Birds of Ireland.’ It is a purely 
tropical species, and has not even wandered to the South of 
Europe. 
