ANOUS HAWAIIENSIS. 



NOIO. 



" Sterna owhyhaensis," Bloxam, MS. (1825) (specimen in Br. Mus. from Owhyhee). 



Anous tenuiroslris, G. R. Gray, List B. Br. Mus. iii. p. 180 (1844), partim {nee Temminck) ; 



Licbtenstein, Nomencl. Avium, p. 97 (1854). 

 Anous melanogenys, Stejneger, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. xi. p. 94 (1888) {nee Gray, Gen. B. iii. pi. 182, 



fide Saunders, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxv. p. 148). 

 Anous hawaiiensis, Rothschild, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club. i. p. lvii (1893) ; id. Avif. Laysan, p. 43, pi. 



(1893). 

 Micranous hawaiiensis, Saunders, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xxv. p. 148 (1896). 



This northern form of the smaller Noddy, A. melanogenys, was recognized as distinct 

 from its larger congener by Bloxam, the naturalist of H.M.S. ' Blonde,' so long ago as 

 1825. It was described in his manuscripts, which, by favour of his son, Mr. A. Boby 

 Bloxam, of Christ Church, New Zealand, have recently been examined by the writers, 

 under the name of " Sterna owhyhaensis " ; but, through the mischance or mismanage- 

 ment which attended their publication, the name has never found its way into print. 

 There can be no doubt of the identity of Bloxam's examples, for one which was 

 obtained by the ' Blonde ' expedition under Lord Byron has escaped destruction and 

 still exists in the British Museum, as testified by Mr. H. Saunders. 



Dr. Stejneger, however, who received four specimens from Mr. Knudsen of Kauai, 

 which had been obtained in Niihau, did not in 1888 distinguish this species from 

 A. melanogenys; and it was therefore left to Mr. Rothschild to give it the above 

 specific name, which luckily agrees, except in spelling, with that originally proposed 

 by Bloxam. 



Mr. Dole asserts that in the Sandwich Islands this Noddy breeds on cliffs, but such 

 seems very unlikely to be the case ; and Palmer, who met with colonies in Laysan, 

 Lisiansky, and Midway Islands, tells us that its habits are in general those of the 

 typical form, and that it lays its eggs upon the sand. He also observed the bird on 

 Kauai, whence Knudsen reported it to Dr. Stejneger as living " on the rocks about the 

 coast." Mr. Perkins says that it is quite common throughout the group. 



Description. — Adult male and female. Forehead and crown greyish white ; lores 

 black ; cheeks and throat dark lead-grey ; nape, shoulders, mantle, and tail lavender- 

 grey ; lower parts black : bill black ; feet brown, with yellowish webs. 



Dimensions. — "Total length 13-5 inches, culmen 1-8, wing 8-65, tail 5, tarsus - 75, 

 middle toe with claw 1*25 " [Saunders). 



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