856 NESTS AND EGGS OF .AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



With Gilbei-t's account in my mind, it was on the tip-toe of excite- 

 ment that I landed on Pelsart Island on the morning of 23rd Decembei", 

 1889. 



Ai'mod with my camera., collecting basket, &e., and accompanied by 

 an employe from the g^ano station of Messrs. Broadhm-st and McNeil, 

 I quickly made along the island. A walk of about three miles brouglit 

 us to inland lagoons, bordered with mangrove trees, among which the 

 Lesser Noddies dwell in myriads, and as they rose a black cloud of 

 feathered forms completely obscured the face of the sim. The Lesser 

 Noddies, as their name implies, are similar to the Noddies, but of 

 smaller size. In their domestic life, however, they difler much. First, 

 imUke the Noddies, which breed on bushes, the Lesser Noddies seek 

 trees, and while the Noddy is only a summer visitant, its smaller com- 

 peer remains through the whole yeai-. What a. wondei-ful scene 

 awaited us as we entered the trees ! Birds met lis at ever'y point 

 roosting on branches, on stems, or sitting upon seaweed-made nests, 

 each containing a solitai-y egg or young bird. A veiy objectionable 

 odour of fresh guano pei-x'aded the entire place ; eveiy tree-stem and 

 limb were wliitewashed with it, the yomig on the lower levels possessing 

 a most unenviable position, being bespattered beyond recognition by 

 tlieir brethren above. Taking examples of birds, young, and eggs, and 

 a pau- of photogi-aphs (see " Lesser Noddies Nesting "), we made all 

 haste back to the cutter and found them just ready to trip the anchor, 

 with a fair wind. 



So ended my last day on that romantic collecting field — Houtman's 

 Abrolho.s — tmly a wonderland for breeding searbirds. 



Young in do^vn : sooty-black, upper part of the head mouldy-wliite, 

 bill and feet black. The first eggs may be obsei-ved at the beginning 

 of September, but the climax of the breeding season is not reached till 

 December. 



654. — M1CRAN0U.S LEUcocAi'iLLUs, Gould. — (6L5) 

 Aituii.'> mehiiiitt/niy.'s, Gray. 



WHITE-CAPPED NODDY. 



Figure. — Gould: Birds of Australia, fol., vol. \ii., pi. 36. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxv., p. 145. 



Previous Descriptions of Egj;s. — Campbell : Southern Science Record 

 (1883), and Nests and Eggs Austn. Bird's, pi. 3, fig. 611; (1883), 

 also Victorian Naturalist (i88S) ; Crowfoot (Metcalfe) : Ibis, 

 p. 264 (1885) ; North : Austn. Mus. Cat., app., pi. 21, fig. 5 

 (1889). 



Geoi/ritpliira! Di.sfriliii/iiin. — Seas of North-wi^st Australia (])robably), 

 Nortlicrn Territory, Queensland and New South Wales ; also most of 

 the islands in the South Pacific, Caroline Islands, Pelcw Islands, Malayan 

 Archipelago, Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean, both sides of Africji. Inacces- 

 sible Island, near' Tristan da Cunha, Tropic.il Atlantic and Caribbean Sea. 



