"Young.--Forehead and crown buffish white, with black streaks which become confluent on nape; feathers of mantle and tail gray, barred with ash-brown and tipped with buff; primaries with a good deal of gray, which throws into strong relief their broad, white, inner margins. Bill ocher-yellow, horn-colored near the tip; toes yellowish brown. "Nestling.--Above pale buff, spotted and streaked with black and umber-brown; beneath dull drab." (Saunders.) Genus ANOUS Stephens, 1826. This genus is distinguished by its brown plumage and graduated tail-feathers. 85. ANOUS STOLIDUS (Linnæus). NODDY TERN. Sterna stolida Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 10 (1758), 1, 137. Anous stolidus Saunders, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1896), 25, 136; Blanford, Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1898), 4, 325, fig. 73; Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 137; Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1901), 1, 197; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 21. Cagayan Sulu (McGregor); Palawan (Whitehead, Platen, McGregor). Tropical and juxtatropical seas of the world. "Adult male in breeding plumage.--Forehead nearly white at base of bill, passing on the crown into lavender-gray, which deepens on neck into lead-color; lores and orbital region black, with a faint whitish superciliary streak; upper parts chiefly dark brown; primaries, tail-feathers, and their shafts nearly black; under parts dark brown on abdomen and breast, passing into deep lead-color on the throat. Bill blackish; tarsi and toes reddish brown, fully webbed, webs ochraceous. Length, about 406; culmen, 53; wing, 260 to 280; tail, 152 to 178, the fourth feather from the outside the longest; tarsus, 25; middle toe with claw, 39. "Adult female.--Very similar but, as a rule, somewhat browner on the shoulders and with less lead-color on the throat, slightly smaller, and with a weaker bill. "Immature.--Similar, but with even less lead-color, and a dark line along the upper wing-coverts. "Young.--Browner generally and paler; forehead and crown grayish brown; below the forehead a narrow white superciliary line conspicuous by contrast against the blackish lores. "Fledgling (Ascension I.).--Umber-brown above and below; the whitish streak above the lores very marked, and continuous round base of bill; a slight grayish tint on forehead. "Downy nestling.--One about five days old (British Honduras: May 12, 1862) has the forehead and crown dull white, lores blackish, upper surface mouse-brown, nape and throat darkest, lower parts paler. Another, only just hatched, is nearly uniform, sooty brown." (Saunders.) Subfamily LARINÆ. Of larger size than the terns; body and bill heavier; tail square or nearly so. Genus LARUS Linnæus, 1758. Characters same as those given for the Subfamily. Species. a1. Smaller; length, 400 mm.; wing, 300. ... ridibundus (p. 95) a2. Larger; length, 600 mm.; wing, 450. ... vegæ (p. 97) 86. LARUS RIDIBUNDUS Linnæus. LAUGHING GULL.