BY A. F. BASSKT HULL. 655 



the egg was laid between two small stones, or in the middle of a 

 tussock. In all directions old abandoned eggs could be seen 

 sticking in the earth which had been washed over them by the 

 rain. On Phillip Island I saw in one dry watercourse, thousands 

 of rotten eggs, and many hundreds of dead birds caught in the 

 roots or half buried in the sand. Owing to this Island being 

 almost entirely denuded of undergrowth by the rabbits, the rain 

 very rapidly finds its way into the watercourses, and as the 

 Sooty Tern will not leave its egg, those birds that have selected 

 the soft sandy beds of these watercourses are soon drowned. 

 In the latter part of November, and during the whole of 

 December, 1908, Norfolk Island was visited with an almost 

 unprecedented rainfall. My friend, Mr. Lindsay Buffett, 

 Informed me that the resulting mortality amongst the 8ooty 

 Terns was enormous. 



One egg only is laid for a sitting. Although I saw several birds 

 on the Admiralty Islet sitting on two eggs, and took half-a- 

 •dozen of these pairs for examination, in every case one egg proved 

 to be addled, while the other was either fresh or in active process 

 of incubation. The addled egg was doubtless one which had 

 been abandoned, and, owing to the limited space available, the 

 then sitting bird had laid one egg alongside of it, rather than 

 take tiie trouble to remove it. 



The Sooty Terns are not shy, but, when first disturbed, will rise 

 and hover about, scolding vigorously and snapping their man- 

 dibles. They soon settle again, and it is not difficult to catch 

 them with the hand. 



As previously remarked, the eggs differ greatly in colouring 

 and dimensions, and a large series of selected varieties makes a 

 most striking a^ldition to the cabinet. I have several white or 

 faintly bluish specimens without any trace of markings; then 

 some with a few faint reddish spots or blotches, and others 

 ranging through all gradations of ground-colour and markings 

 up to a terra-cotta ground, thickly sprinkled with blackish-brown 

 -and dark red spots and blotches. Some have distinct zones of 

 colour on a white ground; others again bear great masses of 



