A Manual of Philippine Birds. Richard C. McGregor
in winter plumage.—Differs only in having less black in front of the eye and on the nape.
“Immature.—Similar to the above, but there is a brownish tinge to the black on the nape; wing-coverts ash-gray; a dark line along the carpal joint; webs of the four outer primaries on both sides of the white shafts dark ash-gray (outermost black), outer webs of the tail-streamers also ash-colored.
“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.
Larus ridibundus Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 12 (1766), 1, 225; Saunders, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1896), 25, 207; Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 140; Oates, Cat. Birds’ Eggs (1901), 1, 208; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 21.
Luzon (Jagor, Murray, McGregor); Mindanao (Murray, Goodfellow). Europe, northern Asia, Africa, and Indian Ocean; China to Malay Archipelago in winter.
“Adult male in breeding plumage.—Hood coffee-brown; gray mantle, white tail, and white under surface tinged with evanescent roseate; pattern of outer primaries chiefly white, with black tips, and black margins to inner webs; shafts of three outer quills white; outermost quill white, with a narrow black line along the greater part of outer web (touching the shaft in all except very old birds), a black tip, and a blackish edge to the inner margin; second quill similar, but with merely a short hairline of black on the outer web; third quill with a trifle more black running upward from the black tip along the outer web; fourth quill similar, but with a gray center to inner web; fifth quill white on both webs, and with a minute white tip; sixth similar, but the tip gray and broader, so that the black becomes a subterminal bar; seventh similar, but with less and fainter black; upper primaries gray; secondaries paler gray, without conspicuous margins. Bill, tarsi, and toes lake-red; iris hazel. Length, 394 to 406; culmen, 46; wing, 298 to 305; tail, 127; tarsus, 43; middle toe with claw, 39.
“The female is undoubtedly smaller as a rule, though there are exceptions.
“Adult in winter.—Similar, but without a hood; merely a little grayish on the occiput, and blackish on the auriculars. In vigorous birds the indications of a hood reappear in autumn, soon after the completion of the molt, which is in August; but cold weather, combined with a scarcity of nutritive food, arrests the development, and it is not usual to see birds with fully complete hoods till February, though there are many exceptions. A female (by dissection) obtained in the shore-nets at Wells, Norfolk, on November 10, has the under parts, and even the shafts and webs of the primaries, suffused with a beautiful salmon-pink, but this also must be considered unusual.
“Nestling.—Buffish to brown, darkest on the upper parts, spotted and streaked with umber and black on the back, head, and throat.
“Young.—Forehead white, rest of head chiefly grayish brown; upper surface warmer brown, with gray lower wing-coverts; secondaries with blackish centers and white borders; the three outer primaries black on outer webs and at the tips and margins of inner webs, but the centers white, except the outermost, in which there is for a time a dark line inside the shaft; in the succeeding primaries the dark color increases ascendingly on the inner webs, while from the fifth the outer webs are pale gray to brownish, with a little white at tips; tail-feathers white, with a band of blackish brown; under surface dull white. Bill dull yellow, passing into black at the angles; tarsi and toes dull reddish yellow. The brown color is soon lost on the back, which has become gray by December.
“Immature.—Like the adult, with a few brown markings left on the upper wing-coverts, and more black on the outer webs of the primaries. More or less of a brown hood is assumed when the bird is barely a year old, and the band on the tail is lost by the following autumn, when the new primaries appear, with, as has been said, a larger proportion of black than in the adult; in fact the duration of the immature phase is very short. The bird does not breed until the following, or second spring.
“Occasionally the black from the margins of the inner webs of the three outer quills runs in and reaches the shafts, much encroaching upon the usual white centers, though not to the same extent on both wings of the same bird. This is noticeable in two examples obtained at Dinapur in December.” (Saunders.)
This small gull is often abundant