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NODDY

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Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 731 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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NODDY , the name applied, originally by sailors, to a See also:

sea-See also:bird, from its showing so little fear of See also:man as to be accounted stupid. It is the Sterna stolida of See also:Linnaeus, and the Anous stolidus of See also:modern See also:ornithology, having the figure of a See also:TERN (q.v.), and belonging to the sub-See also:family Sterninae, but is heavier in See also:flight, with shorter wings and the tail less deeply forked. The plumage is of a See also:uniform sooty See also:hue, excepting the See also:crown of the See also:head, which is See also:light See also: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 See also:numbers, on See also:low cays and See also:coral-islets, commonly making a shallow See also:nest of sea-See also:weed or small twigs. See also:Howard Saunders (Proc. Zool. Society, 1876, pp. 669-672) admits four other See also:species of the genus: Anous tenuirostris, supposed to be confined to the See also:southern See also:part of the See also:Indian Ocean, from See also:Madagascar to See also:West See also:Australia; A. vielanogenys, often See also: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 See also:size, and the two latter have the crown See also:white instead of grey. The See also:fourth species, A. caeruleus (with which he includes the A. cinereus of some authors), differs not inconsiderably, being of a See also:dove-See also:colour, lighter on the head and darker on the back, the wings bearing a 'narrow white See also:bar, with their See also:quill-feathers blackish-See also:brown, while the feet are reddish and the webs yellow. Three more species—A. superciliosus from the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of See also:Mexico, A. plumbeigularis from the Red Sea, and A. galapagensis from the Galapagos—have been added by R.

See also:

Bowdler See also: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.

End of Article: NODDY

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