70 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



five miles west of Key West. The Terns ar- 

 rived for the nesting season during the last week 

 of April. .It was observed that their food con- 

 sisted of small fish of various kinds ; that they 

 never swam or dived, and that they never touched 

 the water except when drinking, bathing, or fish- 

 ing. They drank sea water, which they took on 

 the wing by dipping the opened beak into the 

 sea. They bathed by dipping the breast and 

 head, and did not immerse the whole body. Fre- 

 quently they followed schools of- minnows which 

 were driven to the surface by larger fish, and 

 which they caught with their bills. This fishing 

 was done by groups of Noddies and Sooties to the 

 number of from fift^- to one hundred. 



formance. It is begun by the male, who nods 

 vigorously to the female. She responds by 

 thrusting her bill down his throat while he 

 regurgitates the fish he has caught. Then the 

 male flies away to return presently with a 

 stick, and the nest-building operation is be- 

 gun without further ceremony. The nest is 

 made of dead branches, or seaweed, or a com- 

 bination of both, and it may be lined 

 with shells, upon which the eggs are laid. 

 The building may be done jointly by both sexes 

 or, apparently, by either working chiefly un- 

 assisted. It is far from true that the brooding 

 bird displays indifiference when an intruder ap- 

 proaches, says Mr. Watson. On the contrary. 







Photograph by H. K. Job 



Courtesy of Outing Pubhshing Co. 



SOOTY TERN ON NEST 



Mr. Watson noted that the Noddies left the 

 island at about daybreak, fished for about two 

 hours, and then returned to relieve their mates, 

 who thereupon flew out to sea for their turn at 

 fishing. ' Before the single egg is laid the male 

 Noddy does all of the fishing and feeds the 

 female. After the egg is laid the birds relieve 

 each other at intervals of about two hours. Dur- 

 ing the laying and brooding season the male 

 Sooty probably stays out over the water all day, 

 but during the laying season he returns at night 

 to feed the female, while in the brooding season 

 he relieves the female. It seems probable that 

 the birds feed within fifteen knots of the shore. 



The courtship of the Noddy is a curious per- 



though tliey may permit a very close approach, 

 even to within handling distance, they strike 

 savagely with their sharp beaks, and Mr. Watson 

 says he has been attacked by the flying birds with 

 such spirit that his hat was knocked off and his 

 scalp cut by their bills. Incubation requires from 

 thirty-two to thirty-five days, and the parents 

 share the labor of feeding the young. The Nod- 

 dies made use of nests of the previous season, 

 by adding new material: and that this operation, 

 apparently, was repeated several times seemed 

 probable to Mr. Watson, as some of the nests 

 were very large and bulky. But he found no 

 proof that the same pair actually returned to the 

 same nest. Often the birds built in low bushes. 



