RAINE ISLAND. 349 



with sticks and caught by the hand. They had full-fledged 

 young running about. 



A Tern {Sterna fuliginosa), a widely spread species, the 

 well-known " Wideawake " of Ascension Island, was exceedingly 

 abundant. The stretches of flat ground above the shore line 

 covered with grass were absolutely full of the brown fledged 

 young of this bird. Eggs were already very scarce. A Noddy 

 (Anous stoliclus), the same bird as that at St. Paul's Eocks and 

 Inaccesible Island, so far off in the Atlantic, makes here a rude 

 nest of twigs and grass amongst the low bushes, but often nests 

 also on the ground. There were plenty of eggs of this bird, it 

 being not so advanced in breeding as the tern. 



Two species of Gannets, Sulci leucogaster and Sula cyanops, 

 were nesting on the ground, and especially on a plot of ground 

 quite flat and bare of vegetation ; probably the site of the 

 dwellings of the men employed in 1844 in putting up the beacon 

 on Eaine Island. Sula leucogaster, the Booby of St. Paul's Eocks, 

 makes a slight nest of green twigs and grass on the ground. 

 Sula cyanops makes a circular hole in the earth, about 1^ inches 

 deep. This species is nearly white, with the naked parts about 

 the head of a dull blue, and with a bright yellow iris, which 

 gives the bird a ferocious look as it ruffles its feathers and 

 croaks at an intruder. It would almost seem as if the cause of 

 the colouring of the eye might be the savage appearance which it 

 gives the bird, which may thus be protected from attack. A 

 third smaller species of Gannet (Sula piscatrix) has red feet, 

 which distinguish it at once from the other two. I saw one or 

 two of its nests made in the bushes, like those of the noddies, 

 raised six inches from the ground. 



There remain to be mentioned the " Frigate Birds " (Tachy- 

 petes minor). Their nests were nearly all confined to a small 

 area near the cleared patch already referred to. They are like 

 those of Sula piscatrix, raised on the bushes, and are compact 

 platform-like masses of twigs and grass matted together with 

 dung, about eight inches in diameter. There were no eggs of the 

 birds in the nests, but mostly far advanced young, which were 

 covered with frills of a rusty coloured down. The old birds 

 soared overhead, and could only be obtained by being shot; 



