670 MR. H. SAUNDERS ON THE STERNIN.dE. [Julie 20, 



unwilling to give it specific rank ; but it would be somewhat remark- 

 able if subsequent research should, show that the Galapagos Islands 

 possess a fuliginous Noddy in addition to their Larus fuliginosus and 

 other peculiar forms of bird-life. 



Anous tenuirostris (Temm.). (Plate LXI. fig. 1.) 



Sterna tenuirostris, Temm. PI. Col. 202 (1838). 



Megalopterus tenuirostris (Temm.), Boie, Isis, (1826), p. 980, 

 type of genus Megalopterus. 



Anous melanops, Gould, P. Z. S. xiii. p. 103 (1845) ; id. B. Aus- 

 tralia, vii. pi. 34 (1848); Gray, Hand-list, iii. p. 123 (1871). 



Under this name two species appear to have been confounded. 

 Temminck figures a bird with a light head and neck and pale grey 

 lores. But the bird which is far more abundant in collections under 

 this title is the species which has the lores deep black, figured in 

 Gray's 'Genera of Birds' under the name of A. melanogenys. 

 Temminck's type came from Senegal ; and the only specimens like it 

 which I have been able to examine as yet are two in the British 

 Museum from the island of Rodriguez (from one of which the figure 

 is taken), and one in Lord Walden's collection from Mauritius. In 

 the absence of any detailed description it is impossible to say to 

 which species the " S. tenuirostris" of various writers, from the Red 

 Sea, belongs. Beyond the above localities it occurs at Houtmann's 

 Abrolhos, on the west coast of Australia, whence Mr. Gould described 

 and figured it under the name of Anous melanops. Mr. Gould's bird, 

 however, appears to me to be identical with Temminck's, in spite of 

 the stress laid upon the supposed absence of a black spot by the eye 

 in Temminck's figure, which spot is conspicuously present in the 

 plate of A. melanops. It seems to be a somewhat rare species, at 

 least in collections. Besides the different coloration of the feathers 

 between the base of the bill and the eye, it appears to be a some- 

 what smaller bird than A. melanogenys, the wing being nearly an 

 inch shorter ; the bill also, in the specimen I have seen, is relatively 

 shorter between the angle and the tip ; but a much larger series must 

 be examined before attaching much importance to that peculiarity. 



Anous melanogenys, Gray. (Plate LXI. fig. 2.) 



Anous melanogenys, G. R. Gray, Gen. Birds, iii. p. 661, pi. 182 

 (1849); id. Hand-list, iii. p. 123 (1871). 



Anous tenuirostris, Scl. & Salv. Neotrop. Lar., P. Z. S. 1871, 

 p. 566. 



Respecting this black-faced species (see Plate LXI. fig. 2, taken 

 from a specimen in my own collection) I can only repeat that it is 

 generally found usurping the name of Anous tenuirostrisin collections. 

 It is apparently a widely distributed form, occurring on the coasts of 

 Central America, Africa, Australia, and throughout Polynesia. 



Anous leucocapillus, Gould. (Plate LXI. fig. 3.) 

 Anous leucocapillus, Gould, P. Z. S. pt. xiii. (1845) p. 103; id. 

 B. Aust. vii. pi. 35 (1848) ; Cassin, U.S. Expl. Exp. p. 393 (1858) ; 



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