232 
SWIMMERS. 
NODDY. 
Anous stolidus. 
Char. Plumage deep sooty brown, darker on wings and tail, paler on 
neck ; crown hoary gray, shading to white on the forehead. Length 
about 15 inches. 
Nest. Usually in a tree or low bush, sometimes on a cliff of a rocky 
island, made of twigs lined with leaves and grass. 
Efygs. I ; pale buff, sometimes tinged with slate, spotted with brown 
and lavender; 2.00 X 1.35. 
These common and well-known birds inhabit all parts of the 
tropical seas, and migrate occasionally as far as the coasts of 
the United States, at which times they are generally seen in 
flocks, and are by no means rare. Familiar to mariners who 
navigate in the equatorial regions, the Noddy, like the voyager, 
fretjuents the open seas to the distance of some hundreds of 
leagues from the land, and with many other birds of similar 
appetites and propensities, it is seen in great flights assidu- 
ously following the shoals of its finny prey. It pursues them 
by flying near the surface of the water, and may now be 
seen continually dropping on the small fish, which approach 
the surface to shun the persecution of the greater kinds by 
which they are also harassed. A rippling and silvery white- 
ness in the water marks the course of the timid and tumultuous 
shoals, and the whole air resounds with the clangor of these 
gluttonous and greedy birds, who, exulting or contending for 
success, fill the air with their varied but discordant cries. 
Where the strongest rippling appears, there the thickest swarms 
of Noddies and sea-fowl are uniformly assembled. They fre- 
quently fly on board of ships at sea, and are so stupid or indo- 
lent on such occasions as to suffer themselves to be taken by 
the hand from the yards on which they settle ; they sometimes, 
however, when seized, bite and scratch with great resolution, 
leading one to imagine that they are disabled often from 
flight by excessive fatigue or hunger. 
The Noddies breed in great numbers in the Bahama Islands, 
laying their eggs on the bare shelvings of the rocks ; they also 
