NODDY  , the name applied, originally by sailors, to a

sea-bird, from its showing so little fear of man as to be accounted stupid . It is the Sterna stolida of Linnaeus, and the Anous stolidus of modern ornithology, having the figure of a TERN (q.v.), and belonging to the sub-family Sterninae, but is heavier in flight, with shorter wings and the tail less deeply forked . The plumage is of a uniform sooty hue, excepting the crown of the head, which is light grey . The Noddy is very generally distributed throughout the tropical or nearly tropical oceans, but occasionally wanders into colder climates, and has been met with even in the Irish Sea . It breeds, often in astounding numbers, on low cays and coral-islets, commonly making a shallow nest of sea-weed or small twigs . Howard Saunders (Proc . Zool . Society, 1876, pp . 669-672) admits four other species of the genus: Anous tenuirostris, supposed to be confined to the southern part of the Indian Ocean, from Madagascar to West Australia; A. vielanogenys, often con-founded with the last, but having nearly as wide a range as the first; and A. leucocapillus, hitherto known only from Torres Strait and the Southern Pacific . These three have much resemblance to A. stolidus, but are smaller in size, and the two latter have the crown white instead of grey . The fourth species, A. caeruleus (with which he includes the A. cinereus of some authors), differs not inconsiderably, being of a dove-colour, lighter on the head and darker on the back, the wings bearing a 'narrow white bar, with their quill-feathers blackish-brown, while the feet are reddish and the webs yellow . Three more species—A. superciliosus from the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, A. plumbeigularis from the Red Sea, and A. galapagensis from the Galapagos—have been added by R .

Bowdler Sharpe (Philos . Transactions, clxviii. pp . 468, 469), according to whom (Proc . Zool . Society, 1878, p . 272) A. cinereus of the Eastern Pacific is distinct from A. caeruleus of Australia and the Western Pacific . (A .