At the approach of a boat, the Noddies never flew off their island, in the manner of the Sooty Terns. They appeared to go farther out to sea than those birds, in search of their food, which consists of fishes mostly caught amid the floating sea-weeds, these Terns seizing them, not by plunging perpendicularly downwards, as other species do, but by skimming close over the surface in the manner of Gulls, and also by alighting and swimming round the edges of the weeds. This I had abundant opportunities of seeing while on the Gulf of Mexico.
The flight of this bird greatly resembles that of the Night Hawk when passing over meadows or rivers. When about to alight on the water, the Noddy keeps its wings extended upwards, and touches it first with its feet. It swims with considerable buoyancy and grace, and at times immerses its head to seize on a fish. It does not see well by night, and it is perhaps for this reason that it frequently alights on the spars of vessels, where it sleeps so sound that the seamen often catch them. When seized in the hand, it utters a rough cry, not unlike that of a young American Crow taken from the nest. On such occasions, it does not disgorge its food, like the Cayenne Tern and other species, although it bites severely, with quickly repeated movements of the bill, which, on missing the object aimed at, snaps like that of our larger Fly-catchers. Some which I kept several days, refused all kinds of food, became dull and languid, and at length died.
While hovering over us near their nests, these birds emitted a low querulous murmur, and, if unmolested, would attempt to alight on our heads. After a few visits, however, they became rather more careful of themselves, although the sitting birds often suffered us to put a hat over them. Like the Sooty Tern, this species incubates both day and night. The differences exhibited by Terns with respect to their mode of nestling and incubation, are great, even in the same neighbourhood, and under the same degree of atmospheric temperature. This species breeds on bushes or low trees, placing several nests on the same bush, or in fact as many as it will hold. The Sterna fuliginosa scoops out a slight hollow in the sand, under the bushes, without forming any nest, and incubates closely like the former. The Sandwich, the Cayenne, and the Roseate Terns, drop their eggs on the sand or the bare rock, and seldom sit upon them until evening, or during cloudy or rainy weather. The Cayenne, Sooty, and Noddy Terns differ greatly in their flight, their manner of feeding, and the extent of their migrations. The Tail of the Noddy is cuneate, instead of being forked, in which respect it differs essentially from that of the other species. Perhaps the naturalists who placed it in the same genus with the Roseate Tern, may have been nodding over their books.
Since writing the above account, I have read the article on this species by my esteemed friend Mr Nuttall, and am surprised to find him state that “the Noddies breed in great numbers in the Bahama Islands, laying their eggs on the shelvings of rocks.” No authority is given for this, which I regret, because had he given the fact as observed by himself, it would have astonished me as much as my account of the breeding of the Noddy in the Tortugas may astonish others.
Sterna stolida, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 227.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 805.—Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 356.
Noddy, Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 285.
Adult Male. Plate CCLXXV.
Bill longer than the head, strong, slender, nearly straight, compressed, very acute. Upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly arched, the ridge broad and convex at the base, narrowed towards the end, the sides convex, the edges sharp and inflected, the tip acute. Nasal groove extended to beyond half the length of the bill, slightly deflected towards the edge; nostrils submedial, linear, direct, pervious. Lower mandible with the angle very narrow, acute, extending to the middle, the dorsal line straight, or very slightly concave, the sides convex, the sharp edges inflected, the tip extremely acute.
Head of moderate size, oblong, compressed; neck of moderate length; body slender; feet very short, rather stout. Tibia bare for a short space; tarsus very short, roundish, covered anteriorly with small scutella, laterally and behind with reticulated scales; toes slender, the first very small, the third longest, the fourth nearly as long, the second much shorter, all scutellate above, the anterior united by reticulated webs, having an incurved margin; claws curved, compressed, acute, that of hind toe smallest, of middle toe by much the largest, and having the inner edge thin and dilated.
Plumage soft, close, blended, very short on the head; the feathers in general broad and rounded. Wings very long, narrow, and pointed; primary quills tapering but rounded, the first longest, the rest rapidly graduated; secondaries short, broad, rather acute, the inner more tapering. Tail long, cuneate, of twelve tapering rounded feathers.