ART. 25] NOTES ON HISPANIOLAN BIRDS — WETMORE AND LINCOLN 29 



seemed to feed entirely at sea, and were not observed along shore. On 

 May 16 and 17, individuals were observed over the open water north 

 to a point opposite Paradis. Four specimens were taken on May 14. 



On the rocks near Beata we found numerous eggs and collected a 

 series of 11, all of them fresh. These were found in small potholes 

 in the limestone rock, or under small projecting ledges where they were 

 usually more or less sheltered from above. They were placed on 

 slight accumulations of earth without other pretense to a nest. The 

 parents were tame and flew about or rested near at hand, uttering 

 cawing or croaking calls. Two were captured in rock crevices by 

 hand, and others could easily have been obtained in like manner. 

 One of those taken by this means was a male, indicating possibly 

 that the male shares in the duties of incubation. 



The eggs vary in ground color from very light pale olive-buff to a 

 dull ivory-yellow, and are covered with small, somewhat irregular 

 spots of bone brown and army brown, these becoming bluish slate 

 of varying shades where overlaid by a deposit of shell. The spots 

 are quite evenly distributed over most of the surface, though in- 

 dividual specimens vary in the abundance and size of the markings. 

 They measure as follows, in millimeters: 42.8 by 33.1; 44.8 by 31.6; 

 45.1 by 34; 45.7 by 33.8; 46.1 by 31.7; 46.1 by 33.4; 47.6 by 32.7; 

 47.7 by 33.3; 47.9 by 34.4; 48 by 34.6; 48.8 by 34.5. 



In previous work on West Indian birds, Wetmore has treated this 

 tern under the name Sterna anaetheta melanoptera (Swainson) based 

 on Sterna melanoptera of Swainson described from West Africa. 



Kidgway,^ and more recently the fourth edition of the A.O.U. 

 Check List of North American Birds, have accepted recognita of 

 Mathews as a properly differentiated form. In view of this we 

 follow this latter procedure without having compared birds from the 

 eastern and western sides of the Atlantic. 



STERNA FUSCATA FUSCATA Linnaeus 



Sooty Tern 

 Sterna fuscata Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 228 (Hispaniola) . 



Sooty terns were observed a short distance north of Beata Island 

 on May 10, and others were recorded on May 16, when we were in 

 passage north to Puerto Caiman, below Enriquillo. 



STERNA ALBIFRONS ANTILLARUM (Lesson) 



Least Tern 



Siernula antillarum Lesson, Compl. Ocuvres Buffou, vol. 20, 1847, p. 256 (Guade- 

 loupe Island, West Indies). 



« U.S.Nat.Mus.Bull. 50, pt. 8, 1919, p. 512. 



