846 



NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



had their nests robbed repeatedly, the birds collected into two or three 

 large flocks and laid their eggs in company, shifting theii- quarters 

 repeatedly on finding themselves continually molested, for new-laid eggs 

 wore much in request among people who had for some time been Uving 

 on ship's fare. By sitting down and keeping quiet I have seen the poor 

 birds dropping their eggs witliin two yards of where I sat, apparently 

 glad to get rid of their burden at all hazards. During the month of 

 June, 1844, about 1,500 dozen of eggs were prociu-ed by the party upon 

 the island. About the 20th June neai-ly one-half of the young birds 

 (hatched twenty-five or thirty days previously) were able to fly, and 

 many were quite strong upon the wing. Great numbers of young birds 

 unable to fly were killed for the pot : in one mess of twenty-two men 

 the average number consumed daily in June was fifty, and supposing 

 the convicts (twenty in number) to have consumed as many, 3,000 young 

 birds nuist have been killed in one month ; yet I could observe no 

 sensible diminution of the number of yoimg, a circumstance which will 

 give the reader some idea of the vast numbers of birds of this species 

 congi'egated on a mere vegetated sandbank Uke Raine's Islet." 



It is stated that in some other parts of the world, notably in 

 America, the Sooty Tern sometimes lays three eggs. Probably the 

 statement is correct ; biit at all events, all those birds that lay in Aus- 

 traUan waters have only one egg. Some collectors say there is no 

 separating the eggs of the Sooty Tern from those of the Noddy, so 

 similar are they in appearance. As one who has nested among both 

 birds, I fail to see how the eggs can possibly be confounded. The Sooty 

 Terns' are finer in texture, have a slight lustre and are boldly marked : 

 those of the Noddy are entirely lustreless, having a soft appearance, 

 while the markings are likewise soft and not so numerous. Moreover, 

 upon the islands there can hardly be a mistake, for the Noddy eggs are 

 in nests, the Sooties' are upon the bare ground. 



" It is said " (according to Howard Saunders) " that at Ascension 

 Island the Sooty Terns, or ' Wide-awakes,' come every eight months to 

 breed." Tliis is somewhat remarkable. 



Tlie wonderful simultaneous laying 'of great flocks of these Terns, 

 mentioned by Mr. W. A. Dixon, F.C.S..* as having occurred on Maiden 

 Island (mid-Pacific), has not been noticed, at all events recorded, by 

 any other observer. After giving some useful information that the 

 " Wide-awakes " lay there in October and again in April, and that the 

 young are hatched in fifteen or sixteen days and remain nearly three 

 months upon the ground, Mr. Dixon proceeds to state : " In tlie end of 

 September the flock begins to collect, flying high in the air above the 

 spot where they intend to lay, a constant stream of birds flying to and 

 fro between the flock and the sea. Day by day the immense flock 

 flies lower and lower, till about the 22nd or 23rd October they are 

 skimming closely along the ground ; up to this time there are no eggs 

 to be found, even up to three o'clock of that day. The flock evidently 

 diminishes in number — the birds are down, an event which was looked 



• "Nitural History of " .\ Oiiano Island."— Proc. Rov. See, N S. Wales, p ifis 

 (■877). 



