MICEANOUS. 415 



like the members of the genus Anous, but are of a slighter and more graceful form. 

 The bill is slender and long, the distance from the angle of the genys longer than that 

 to the gape, while in the tail the third pair of rectrices from the outside are the longest. 

 The range of the genus is the same as that of the true Noddies, viz. the tropical and 

 subtropical seas. Mr. Howard Saunders recognizes three species : M. tenuirostris and 

 M. leucocapillus, with a wide range in the Old World, the latter species alone 

 occurring within our limits ; a third form, M. hawaiiensis, is confined to the Sandwich 

 Islands. 



1. Micranous leucocapillus. 



Anous leucocapillus, Gould, P. Z. S. 1845, p. 103 \ 



Micranous leucocapillus, Saunders, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxv. p. 145 ^ ; Oates, Cat. Eggs Brit. 



Mus. i. p. 199'. 

 Anous tenuirostris (nee Temm.), Salv. Ibis, 1864, p. 383 * ; 1866, p. 200 ' ; Coues, Ibis, 1864, 



p. 393° ; Sol. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1871, p. 566'. 



Supra fuliginoso-niger, plumbeo adumbratus ; alis caudaque nigricantibus, rhaobidibus brunneis ; corpore 

 subtus toto fuliginoso-nigro, facie laterali coUoque, gutture et pectore summo plumbeo distincte adumbratis, 

 abdomine sordidiore ; pileo canescenti-albo, micbani versus clarius cinereo ; loris efc plumis anteocularibus 

 et oculum circumdantibus nigerrimis : rostro nigro ; pedibus saturate brunneis. Long, tota circa 12-5, 

 alsE 9-0, caudse 4-6, culm. 1-8, tarsi 0-85. (Descr. maris adulti ex Glover's Reef. Mus. nostr.) 

 5 baud a mari distinguendus. Long, tota circa 12-5, alae 8-9. (Descr. maris et feminse adultee ex Glover's 

 Eeef. Mus. nostr.) 



Hah. British Hondueas, Glover's Eeef^ South-west-of-all Cay {0. S."^^). — Inter- 

 TEOPiCAL Atlantic Ocean ^ ; Indian Ocean ^ ; Malayasia ^ ; Austealia ^ ; Pacific 

 Ocean to Society Is. ^. 



This species is distinguished from the typical Noddies by its small size and white 

 head. It has been found only in one place in Central America, viz., on the islets off 

 the coast of British Honduras "^ . Here it was discovered by Salvin nesting on " South- 

 west-of-all," a small Cay on the outer margin of Glover's Eeef ^s. 



In habits M. leucocapillus resembles the larger kinds of Noddies {Anous). Salvin 

 says that the nest of the " Piccary Noddy " was small and compact, made of slender twigs, 

 seaweed, and bits of grass, and glued together in every available fork and on every 

 horizontal branch. This species almost exclusively monopolized the high mangroves 

 on the windward side of the island. In one tree there were over seventy nests. 



The eggs are described by Mr. Oates as mostly of a broad oval form, though 

 some are quite elliptical, the ground-colour varying from pure white to cream and 

 pale pink, with the markings occasionally evenly distributed, but generally collected at 

 the larger end, and consisting of specks, lines, and dashes, and varying in size from 

 spots to blotches of reddish-brown or chocolate-brown, with a few underlying markings 

 of pale purple. As with the Noddies, feebly marked specimens are not unfrequent 3. 



