BIRDS OF LAYSAN AND THE LEEWARD ISLANDS. 
783 
The following diagnosis will serve to distinguish the three species of this genus: 
а. Lower parts nearly as dark as mantle, a decided and rather uniform gray. No discernible white wedges 
in first three primaries cerulea 
aa. Lower parts very much lighter than mantle. A more or less conspicuous light-gray wedge in three outer- 
most primaries. 
б. General tone ashy. Under wing coverts and lower tail coverts white; breast very pale gray. Size larger: 
Wing 211; culmen 28 cinerea 
66. General tone bluish gray. Under wing coverts and lower tail coverts gray. Breast decidedly gray, 
whole under parts more suffused with gray than 6. Size smaller: wing 186; culmen 26 saxatilis 
I append the table of measurements published with the original description : 
Anous stolidus. Noddy. 
Sterna stolida Linn., Syst. Nat., ed. 10, i, 1758, p. 37. ' 
The noddy ranks fourth in relative abundance among the terns dwelling on Laysan. It does not 
build its nest close among others of its fellows to any marked degree, though I found a few small 
colonies. The noddies had apparently only recently begun to lay, when we arrived, and I believe 
their numbers increased during our stay. They were living mostly on the west and northwest sides of 
the island, where they made their nests on the slopes and summits of the low sand bluffs next to the 
beach. The nest is usually on the ground, though sometimes it is placed on the prostrate branches of 
a procumbent shrub. It is a much simpler structure than that of Micrcmous hawaiiensis, and when on 
the sand usually consists of a shallow bowl, lined roughly with dried sedge. Rarely there is no nest 
at all, the egg being deposited on the bare ground. When placed on the beaten-down stems of bushes, 
as is sometimes the case, the nest becomes a makeshift platform of sticks and sedge. The rather acute 
ovate egg is a creamy white, sparsely spotted with light gray, burnt umber, and walnut brown. Most 
of the brown spots are on the larger half, and are sometimes small and at other times quite large 
(4 to 8 millimeters across). One egg has no dark marks, but is scantily spotted and streaked with 
light Mars brown. Specimens vary from 58 by 48 to 51 by 35 millimeters. (Rigs. 12 and 14. ) 
Noddies like to gather in little companies on the beach, or on rocks near the shore, where they 
sit for hours dozing away or preening their feathers. They are not so tame as their smaller relative, 
Micranous hawaiiensis. 
We found this species off the French Frigate Shoals, from which it has already been recorded by 
Rothschild. Likewise on Necker it was fairly common, and we found nests and eggs. Here the nest 
was smaller than on Laysan, the material being restricted from necessity to the fleshy stems of Portulaca 
lutea, which grows abundantly on the shelves of the rocks. As on Laysan, the birds gathered on 
the rocks near the water’s edge just out of reach of the surf. We found the species at Bird Island, 
both at sea and on shore, where they were seen standing on the beach. 
This tern has a wide range, which is given by Saunders as follows: 
“Tropical and juxta-tropical America; chiefly on the Atlantic side, but also on the Pacific in 
F. C. B. 1903. Pt. 3—2 
