Order LA RIF Oil MES. 
No. 14. 
Family LARIDJE. 
PROCELSTERNA CERULEA. 
(albivitta). 
GREY NODDY. 
Procelsterna Lafresnaye, Mag. de Zool., 1842, pi. 29 (dated March). Type (by monotypy): 
Procellsterna tereticollis Lafresnaye=a subspecies of Sterna cerulea Bennett. 
Sterna cerulea Bennett, Narr. Whaling Voy., Yol. II., p. 248, (pref. April 14th) 1840 : Christmas 
Island, Pacific Ocean. 
Procelsterna albivitta Bonaparte, Comptes Rendus, Acad. Sci. (Paris), Yol. XLII., p. 773, May 
1856 : Lord Howe Island. New name for Anous cinereus Gould, not Haldeman; Gould, 
Handb. Birds Austr., Vol. II., p. 420, Dec. 1865. 
Anous cinereus Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond), 1845, p. 104, Feb. 1846 : Lord Howe Island. Not 
Haldeman, Zoological Contr., pt. 2, No. 8, Dec. 1843 ; id., Birds Austr., pt xxxv., 
Vol. VII., pi. 37, Dec. 1st, 1848. 
Procelsterna cinerea Saunders, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., Vol. XXV., p. 135, 1896 (pref. Nov. 3rd, 
1895) ; Mathew's and Iredale, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. IV., pp. 109-110, Dec. 16th, 1920 ; id., 
Manual Birds Austr., p. 103, March 9th, 1921. 
Procelsterna cerulea cinerea Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 210, Jan. 1912; id., Birds 
Austr., Vol. II., pt. iv., p. 426, pi. 118, Nov. 1st, 1912 ; id., List Birds Adstr., p. 50, Dec. 
1913. 
Procelsterna cerulea kermadeci Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. III., p. 55, April 7th, 1916: 
Kermadec Island. 
Procelsterna cerulea albivitta Mathews, Syst. Av. Australas., p. 144, June 13th, 1927. 
Distribution. Lord How'e and Norfolk Islands ; East Australia ; Kermadec Islands. 
Adult male. General colour above ash-grey', paler and inclining to white on the head, sides of 
face and entire under-surface of body, including the under wing-coverts ; under tail-coverts 
ash-grey like the upper-surface ; inner webs of outer primary quills inclining to black 
near the shaft, the innermost portion becoming v'hitish ; most of the secondaries grey, 
margined with white at the tips ; short feathers encircling the eye, black in front and 
w'hite on the hinder portion. Bill black, iris blackish-blue, tarsi and toes black, webs 
lemon-yellow. Total length 279 mm. : culmen 29, wing 207, tail 120, tarsus 24. 
Adult female. Similar to the male but smaller. 
Immature. Differs from the adult in being dark slate-grey both above and below, the wings 
being somew'hat darker than the back ; primary quills inclining to black. 
Nestling. Almost the same colour as the parent bird. 
Nest. None made, the egg is laid on the bare rock or sand. 
Egg. Clutch one ; ground-colour stone, with underlying spots of grey sparingly distributed, and 
fev'er spots of chestnut-brown. Dimensions 42 mm. by 30. 
Breeding -season. September to January (Norfolk Island). 
Eggs. Two eggs were taken on Phillip Island on the 8th of November, 1912. The eggs of 
Procelsterna differ wddely from the eggs of Anous and the sternce. They are glossless, pale, 
brownish-cream or cream colour and have a few' pale rufous and pale purplish-grey spots 
all over the egg, none very large. The two eggs from Phillip Island measure : 41'2 X 29 2 
and 41‘6 X 303 mm. 
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