. A history of British birds, indigenous and migratory: including their organization, habits, and relation; remarks on classification and nomenclature; an account of the principal organs of birds, and observations relative to practical ornithology .. . broad but short scutella ; toes slender, thefirst very small, the third a little longer than the fourth ;the interdigital membranes full, the inner slightly concave ;claws arcuate, compressed, acute, that of the third toe pro-portionally larger. Plumage soft, close, blended. AVings very long, narrow,pointed; the primary quills tapering to a roun
. A history of British birds, indigenous and migratory: including their organization, habits, and relation; remarks on classification and nomenclature; an account of the principal organs of birds, and observations relative to practical ornithology .. . broad but short scutella ; toes slender, thefirst very small, the third a little longer than the fourth ;the interdigital membranes full, the inner slightly concave ;claws arcuate, compressed, acute, that of the third toe pro-portionally larger. Plumage soft, close, blended. AVings very long, narrow,pointed; the primary quills tapering to a rounded tip. Taillong, graduated, of twelve soft, tapering, obtuse feathers. These birds, remarkable for the gliding buoyancy andextent of their flight, abound in the warmer parts of theAtlantic and Iacific Oceans. Their habits are in general MEGALOPTERUS. NODDY. 671 similar to those of the Terns. Soine oniitliologists adopt forthtni the generic name Anoiis, proposed by Dr. Leach ; whileothers include them in the extended genus Sterna. Theyare the most oceanic of the family^ seeking their food at vastdistances from land, and seizing it while they skim along thesurface, or sometimes when swimming. (J72 MEGALOPTERUS STOLIDUS. THE COMMONNODDY. Sterna stolida. Linn. Syst. Nat. I. stolida. Lath. Ind. Ornith. II. stolida. Jen. Brit. Vert. Anim. Noddy. Sterna Tern. Yarr. Brit. Birds, III. 417. Temm. Man. dOmith. lY. 461. Bill rather stout; plumage sooty-hroicn; primary quillsand tail-feathers hroicnish-hlack ; upper part of the head paleash-grey: a Mack spot before the eye. Male in Summer.—Of a slender, elongated form, -with theneck rather short; the head oblong. The bill rather longerthan the head, strong, nearly straight, compressed, very acute;the dorsal line of the upper mandible arcuato-declinatc be-yond the middle, that of the lower commencing beyond themiddle, ascending, slightly concave ; the edges of both sharpand
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1830, bookidhistoryo, booksubjectbirds
