32^ LAKID.E. 



islanders, that they abandoned it shortly after laying. Sooty Tern's ef;j<s. when fresti, are eaten 

 by the islanders, and a small number are blown and sent chielly to Sydney as natural history 

 specimens. The eggs have rich reddish-yellow yolks, but 1 did not attempt to eat any of them. 

 The young birds, with their parents, depart about the end of March or the first week in April. 



It is impossible to lay down a hard and fast rule that a certain species only lays one egg, or 

 that another does or does not form a nest, for it varies in dillerent localities. .Audubon, in his 

 " Birds of America," ■■ states : — " The Sooty Tern always lays three eggs as its full number, and 

 in no instance, among thousands of nests which were on the Bird Key (one of the Tortugas) did 

 I find one more when the female was sitting close." Dr. Elliot Coues, in his " Key to North 

 American Birds,"! remarks of this species : — " Eggs one to three, dropped on the sand." 



Dr. W. i\Iacgillivray sent the following notes from Broken Hill, South-western New South 

 Wales: — " Mr. W. McLennan found Stevna fnUgiiwsa breeding on Oyster Cay, near Cairns, 

 North-eastern Queensland, on the 14th December, 1909, in company with ..S. media, S. hergii and 



SOOTY TERNS NKSTING ON HKKAT ALIMIKALTY ROCK, XHAK I.OHIi IIOWK ISLAND. 



Anous stolidiis. The nests of the Sooty Terns contained mostly fresh eggs, one only being laid 

 in each instance. On my way up the coast the previous year I saw this species on several 

 occasions, and also at Raine Islet." 



Mr. C. G. Gibson wrote me from Perth, Western Australia :— " I am forwarding some eggs 

 o[ i\\e Sooty Tevn (Stcviia fuUginosa). They were taken on the 14th November, 1907, during 

 our recent trip to Houtman Abrolhos. Countless numbers were found laying during that month 

 on Pelsart Island, and they were even more numerous on Rat Island." 



The late Dr. P. H. Metcalfe wrote as follows from Norfolk Island:— "The Sooty Tern, 

 ' Whale Bird,' or ' Wide-awake,' ( Sterna fidiL^inosa) frequents "Norfolk Island and the adjacent 

 islets during the breeding season. It is seldom seen much of before September or after January. 

 It breeds chiefly on Nepean Island and Phillip Island, as well as on some of the cliffs of Norfolk 

 Island, and on outlying rocks. The eggs are collected by the Norfolk Islanders in great quantities 



* Birds of America, Vol. VII., p. 93 (1S59). 



\ Key North Amer. Bds , fifth ed., p. 1016 (1903). 



