4*4 
THE SAVAGE WORLD 
upon which the booby will dash down so violently as to kill itself or else will 
transfix itself by driving its bill into the wood. 
The Darter (. Plotus ) exists as an African species as well as an American 
one. The head and neck look 
as if they belonged to a long- 
beaked snake; and in swim¬ 
ming it does not expose its 
large body, so that the resem¬ 
blance is thus increased. Add to 
this that in diving it is quicker 
than a flash and the propriety of 
its popular name is evident. 
The Sea-Swallow, or Tern 
(Sterna hirundo j, is a gull which 
has been named from the swal¬ 
low-like, forked-shape of its tail. 
Jet black is the color of the top 
of the head and on the back 
of the neck; the under parts 
are white, and the rest of the 
body a gray ashen color; the 
legs, feet and bill are like red 
coral though the extremities are 
perfectly black. It builds the 
rudest kind of a nest out of 
sticks, stones and grass. 
Another species of the tern is 
the Noddy (Anous stolidus). It 
flies like a night-hawk, although 
its habits are not nocturnal. It 
and sometimes in the trees. It is a 
nest year after year, adding to the 
TROPIC BIRD ROBBING THE BOOBY. 
builds its nest sometimes on the rocks 
slovenly housekeeper, and uses the same 
structure until it becomes relatively 
gigantic, but never troubling itself 
about any house-cleaning. The noddy 
is about a foot and a quarter in length, 
and its nest is robbed of the eggs for 
the supply of the table. It dresses in 
chocolate color, but varies this by 
top of the head and the 
brownish gray on the back 
and by black on the bill, 
and on the feet. 
Scissors-bill Gull (Rhyncops 
met with alike in 'America 
a 
buff on the 
forehead, by 
of the head, 
on the legs, 
The ~ 
nigra) 
and in Africa, and the lower mandible 
shuts into a groove in the upper in a 
manner to justify its popular name. This beak, black at the tip, constantly 
grows lighter until at the base it is the. color of Guinea gold. It feeds mostly 
is 
BOOBY. 
