BY A. F. BASSET HULL. 661 



less distinct zone. A few eggs are white, almost entirely devoid 

 of markings. The shape is from elongated to stout oval, and the 

 size varies considerably. Dimensions: (1)1-8 x 1 "3; (2)1-86 x \"2b; 

 (3)1-85 X 1-20; (4)1-74 x 1-26; (5)1-72 x 1-23; (6)164 x 1-20. 



13G(M), 20.GYGIS ALBA Sparrm. 



White Tern; White Bird(N.I.). 



G ijg is Candida Gmelin, Gould, p. 405; Crowfoot, p.266; Ramsay, 

 p.38; North, 'Nests and Eggs,' p. 374. 



Gygis alba, Cat. Birds Eggs, B.M., i. p.200, 1901; Campbell, 

 p.857. 



Hab. — Norfolk Island. (N. and E, Australia, Pacific, Indian 

 and S. Atlantic Oceans). 



My principal object in visiting Norfolk Island was to see this 

 beautiful bird, and study its remarkable breeding habits. On 

 my arrival at the island (8th October, 1908) I was informed that 

 the " White Birds " had not yet commenced to lay, although a 

 few had been seen at their usual breeding haunts. On the 14th, 

 I visited the Pacific Cable Station at Anson Bay, on the western 

 €oast, and there saw several birds flying about the great White 

 Oak trees{Lagunaria Patersoni), but none appeared to be sitting, 

 I visited Steel's Point, on the eastern coast, on the 17th of 

 October, and there had the satisfaction of handling my first 

 specimens of the beautiful eggs of Gygis alba. Many subsequent 

 days were spent in visiting the two breeding localities, one 

 extending along the eastern coast from Ball Bay to Steel's Point, 

 and the other on the western coast from Selwyn Bridge, past 

 Anson Bay to Dancorabe Bay on the north. On these occasions 

 I watched the birds, from the laying of the egg to the hatching 

 and rearing of the young ones, and will now give a general 

 description embracing the result of my observations extending 

 over one month. 



The White Tern breeds in the densely wooded gullies, not in 

 colonies in the strict sense of the term, but widely scattered over 

 the two localities mentioned. The single egg is deposited in a 

 knot-hole or any slight depression on a more or less horizontal 



