PLATE 



IXXZX VIII. 



FAMILY STERNIDiE. 



TI^HIS group of oceanic birds was considered by Gould to be deserving of a family designation. 



Universally diffused over the sea-washed lands of the globe, nearly twenty species are represented 

 in Australia, and others also may probably be discovered. Some species of the many genera which 

 constitute this family are coloured in the most charming and beautiful manner, and although not rapid 

 fliers, their light and delicate construction of body and indescribable ease and grace of movement when 

 hovering just above the surface of the water, will long be remembered by the traveller. 



GENUS ANOUS (Leach). 



TRUE oceanic birds, and ranging both temperate and warm latitudes, the representatives of this genus 

 are abundant on various portions of the Australian coast. In their general mode of life thev 

 resemble Petrels, but have distinguishing characteristics from those birds and the Terns; from the latter 

 they especially differ in their flight, which is slow and steady ; and, unlike many of the Petrels, they 

 are very silent birds, rarely giving forth a note when met with upon the open sea. 



ANOUS LEUCOCAPILLUS (Gould). 



WHITE-CAPPED NODDY. Genus: Anous. 



rpHIS, one of the most handsome of the Noddies, is a confirmed ocean wanderer and seldom visits the 

 ■L land except for breeding purposes, when they collect in vast flocks on the small islets in Torres 

 Straits and some of the coral islands of Polynesia. In its habits and mode of life generally there is 

 such a marked resemblance to the Noddy Tern, described in the Plate following, that that description 

 will be fully applicable to this species. 



Jardine considers this Noddy to be identical with the A. Tenuirostris of South Africa; but 

 Gould and Bonaparte have treated it as distinct. 



Cr own of the head and nape of the neck, white; near the posterior angle of the upper and lower 

 eyelids, a small triangular patch of white; the rest of the plumage a rich deep black; bill, black, except 

 for a faint horn-coloured line along the upper mandible ; legs and feet, brown. 



Total length, 14 inches; bill, 2± inches; wing, 'J inches; tail, 5 inches; tarsi, | inch; middle 

 toe and nail, ] | inch. 



Habitats : Torres Straits and other northern parts of Australia. 



