' 



ANOUS STOLIDUS. 



Sterna stolida, Lnmueus, Syst. Nat. ed. 12, i. p. 227 (1766). 



Anous niger, Stephens, Gen. Zool. xiii. p. 140 (1825). 



Anous stolidus, Cassin, U.S. Expl. Exped. p. 391 (1858) ; G. R. Gray, Cat. B. Trop. Is. p, 59 



(1859) ; Einsch & Hartlaub, Faun. Centralpolyn. p. 234 (1867); Dole 1 , Proc. Boston Soc. 



N. H. 1869, p. 307 ■ id. Haw. Alman. 1879, p. 57 : Wiglesworth, Aves Polyn. p. 76 (1892) ; 



Rothschild, Avif. Laysan, p. 41, pi. (1893) ; Saunders, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xxv. p. 136 (1896). 



[All the above citations, except the first two and the last (in part), refer to the Sandwich Islands 

 and some other localities in the Pacific Ocean. The list could be easily extended.] 



The Noddy Tern, widely distributed as it is in many parts of the world, is not to be 

 found in such abundance in the neighbourhood of the Sandwich Islands as it is 

 elsewhere. It is true that Palmer found it breeding on Laysan and on French Frigate 

 Island, to the north-west of the above group, but its numbers were considerably less 

 than those of Anous hawaiiensis, which was met with at the same time, while it must 

 for the present remain doubtful whether it ever visits the main archipelago, though it 

 probably does so. Mr. Dole quotes from Dr. Elliott Coues a tabulated form of the 

 differences existing between specimens from the Pacific and from America ; and, 

 although he refers his specimen to A. stolidus, it seems that he intended to describe 

 the bird now known as A. hawaiiensis. No certain record, therefore, exists of the 

 occurrence of the typical Noddy in the Sandwich Islands. 



Description. — Adult male and female. Sooty brown with whitish forehead, grey 

 crown, and often black lores and throat ; wings and tail blacker. Bill black ; feet 

 reddish brown with yellowish webs. 



Dimensions. — " Total length about 16 inches, culmen 2*1, wing 10*25-11, tail 6-7, 

 tarsus 1, middle toe with claw 1-55" (Saunders). 



1 The two citations from Mr. Dole very possibly refer iu part, if not entirely, to Anous haivaiiensis. 



