Order LARIF0RME8 
No. 143. 
Family LARIDM. 
MEGALOPTERUS TENUIROSTRIS MELANOPS. 
AUSTRALIAN LESSER NODDY. 
(Plate 116 .)’*^ 
Anotts MELANOPS Gould, Pfoc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.) 1845, p. 103 ; Houtman’s Abrollios, 
West Australia. 
Anous melanops Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.) 1845, p. 103 ; id., Birds Austr.,^ Voi. VII., 
pi. 35, 1848 ; id., Handb. Birds Austr., Vol. II., p. 417, 1865. 
Anous tenuirostris Saunders, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.) 1876, p. 670 ; Ramsay, Proc. Linn. 
Soc. N.S.W., Vol. II., p. 202, 1877 ; id.. Tab. List Austr. Birds, p. 23, 1888 ; 
North, Austr. Mus. Cat., No. 12, p. 359, 1889. 
Micranous tenuirostris Saunders, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., Vol. XXV., p. 144, 1896 (pars) ; 
Hall, Key Birds Austr., p. 89, 1899 ; Campbell, Nests and Eggs Austr. Birds, p. 854, 
1901 ; HaU, Key Birds Austr., p. 89, 1906 ; Campbell, Proc. Austr. Ass. Adv. Sci. 
1890, p. 495; Mathews, Handl. Birds Austral., p. 21, 1908; Gibson, Emu, Vol. 
VIII., p. 66, 1908. 
Anous tenuirostris melanops Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 210, 1912. 
Distribution. West Australia. 
Adult male. Entire wings, back, tail, breast and abdomen sooty -black, Mke the under-tail 
coverts and under wing-coverts ; head greyish-white becoming ash-grey on the 
hind-neck, darker on the sides of the neck, and inchning to black on the throat and 
fore-neck ; short feathers encirchng the eye velvety black, bill and feet black ; 
iris ashy. Total length 393 mm. ; exposed portion of culmen 39, wing 209, tail 
112, tarsus 24. 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male. 
Young {in down). “ Sooty black, upper part of the head mouldy -white, bill and feet black ” 
(Campbell). 
Immature. Does not appear to have been described. 
Nest. “ Constructed of sea- weed, thrown across the branch, without any regard to form, 
until it has accumulated to a mass varying from two to four inches in height ” 
(Gilbert). 
Egg. Clutch, one ; ground-colour dull white, a ring round the larger composed of dark 
brown blotches, a few spots of this colour and others of Mght grey sparingly placed 
over the rest of the surface ; axis 41-46, diameter 29-31. 
Breeding-season. September, October, and November (Campbell) ; December (Gilbert and 
Gibson, Houtman’s Abrolhos). 
* The Plate is lettered Micranous tenuirostris. 
414 
