<652 THE BIRDS OF LORD HOWE AND NORFOLK ISLANDS, 



LARIF ORMES. 

 128(M). 16, Sterna fuliginosa Gmelin. 



Sooty Tern; Wideawake(L.H.I.); Whale Bird(N.I.). 



Sterna fuliginosa Crowfoot, p. 2 6 6; North, ' Nests and Eggs/ 

 p. 374; North, ' Lord Howe Island,' p.46; Etheridge, p.l5. 



Onychoprion fuliginosa, Ramsay, p. 38; Ramsay, Proc. Linn. 

 Soc. N.S.Wales," ii. (2nd Ser.), p.678(1887). 



Hah. — Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands. (Australia generally, 

 Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans). 



The Lord Howe Islanders' name for the Sooty Tern is said to 

 be derived from a fancied resemblance between its ordinary cry 

 and tlie word "wideawake," but it might just as well be a 

 reference to its attitude and actions as compared with the stolid 

 Noddy. The name given to it by the Norfolk Islanders is 

 <lerived from its periods of arrival at and departure from the 

 Island, which are coincidental with those of the whales, the 

 pursuit of whicii is one of the chief of the island industries. 



At both islands I had abundant opportunities of seeing the 

 Sooty Terns in their breeding places, and selecting a fine series 

 of their remarkably variable eggs from many hundreds of thou- 

 sands scattered about within easy reach. 



On the main island of Lord Howe these birds assemble to 

 breed in one restricted locality only, the North Ridge, a steep 

 slope about two miles to the northward of the settled part ©f the 

 island. The south-western slope of this ridge is covered with 

 thick tussocky grass, amongst which a few basalt boulders pro- 

 trude their rugged heads; while the north-eastern side descends 

 sharply several hundred feet to the ocean, the cliff being broken 

 by occasional terraces on which the birds tind a more or less 

 secure nesting place, though the major part of the colony occujjy 

 the south-western slope. During the season, which extends from 

 the middle of September until the end of November, this breed- 

 ing place is frequently visited, in fact almost daily, by parties of 

 the residents who collect the freshly laid eggs in kerosene tins 

 ^nd buckets. These eggs form an agreeable addition to the food- 



