TERNS 



(79) Anofis stolidus 



(Linn.) (Gr., stupid). 



NODDY. Ad. ^ Plumage as 

 shown. The crown is a silvery white, 

 fading to pure white on the forehead. 

 Immature birds are similar, but the 

 head is the color of the back, the 

 silvery gray being limited to the fore- 

 head and a narrow line over the eye. 

 L., 16.00; W., 10.50; T., 6.00 (rounded 

 instead of forked as in other terns); 

 B., 1.75. Nest — Usually of sticks 

 and grasses, in mangroves, low trees, 

 on the ground or among crevices of 

 rocks. The single egg is cream- 

 colored, sparsely specked with brown 

 and lavender, 2.00 x 1.30. 



Range — Tropical coasts. Breeds 

 on the Florida Keys, coasts of La., 

 and in the Bahamas and West Indies. 



are. Noddies are abundant birds on tropical coasts, reach- 

 ing their northern breeding limits on some of the Florida 

 Keys and the coast of Louisiana. If circumstances permit, 

 they usually nest in mangroves, making platforms of sticks 

 with just hollow enough in the middle to prevent the egg 

 rolling off. 



In large breeding colonies. Noddies are even less suspicious 

 than other tropical birds under similar conditions; they 

 often allow persons to approach near enough to touch them 

 as they sit upon their nest. It is this extreme lack of sus- 

 picion that is responsible for their technical names, both of 

 which mean stupid. Their very confidence probably aids 

 in their protection, for it is human nature to treat with 

 kindness animals that trust us. Their flesh is unfit for 

 food and their feathers are not in demand, so there is no 

 occasion to kill them; their eggs, however, are often taken, 

 and they share with Sooty and Bridled Terns the name of 

 "Egg-bird." 



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