288 BULLETIN 146;, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



air and striking with both its feet at once into the sand, thus making 

 a hole about 3 inches deep and iy2 inches across." 



Dr. Alexander Wetmore contributes the following interesting 

 notes : 



The greatest surprise came when on Laysan Island it was found that these 

 and other shore birds were persistent enemies of the sooty and gray- 

 backed terns, as they destroyed the eggs of the terns at every opportunity. 

 For the first few days when turnstones were seen greedily eating terns' 

 eggs I supposed that they were merely finishing eggs that had been opened 

 by other birds, but on further observation found that these shore birds were 

 bold marauders that drove their bills into the eggs of terns at every oppor- 

 tunity and were only prevented from attacking the nests of boobies and 

 man-o-war birds by the fact that the shell of the egg in these species was 

 so hard that they could not break it. As we moved through the great colonies 

 of sooty terns the birds near at hand rose before us from their eggs, often 

 communicating the alarm to neighbors so that at times clouds of birds arose 

 to fill the air. At our heels, 15 or 20 feet behind us, came little groups of 

 turnstones well aware that this uproar among the sharp-beaked terns meant 

 improtected nests, where they could attack the eggs with impunity. The 

 turnstones ran quickly about driving their bills into the eggs without the 

 slightest hesitation, breaking open tlie side widely and feeding eagerly on the 

 contents, sometimes two or three gathering for an instant to demolish one egg 

 and then with this one half consumed running on to attack another. The 

 havoc wrought among the terns was so great that we forbade the sailors from 

 approaching the colonies, and made it a rule among the naturalists to keep 

 away except when necessity for some observation made it imperative to disturb 

 the birds. 



The densely packed colonies of aggressive sooty terns were open to attack 

 mainly along the borders except when the birds were disturbed, but the little 

 scattered groups of gray-backed terns {Sterna lunata) on the open beaches 

 were entirely at the mercy of the turnstones, so that it seemed that the gentle 

 terns could not hope for a successful nesting until the close of May carried the 

 horde of their marauding persecutors away to northern homes. So bold were 

 the shore birds that on one occasion I saw two actually push aside the 

 feathers on the sides of the incubating tern, drag her egg from beneath her 

 breast, and proceed to open and devour it within G inches of the nest. The 

 tern remained in incubating pose, plainly troubled by such unexpected boldness 

 but seemingly not comprehending its portent, nodding her head with that of 

 her mate standing beside her, and finally reaching out to draw the half-empty 

 shell of her treasure again beneath her, while the robbers, temporarily satisfied, 

 pattered away in search of other prey. On several occasions when, in walk- 

 ing along the beaches above high-tide mark I fiushed gray-backed terns from 

 their nests, I saw that they carried with them as they flew away shells of 

 broken eggs, which not understanding that they had been destroyed they had 

 covered while the hardening albumen flowing over the outside of the shell 

 had glued the whole to their feathers. 



The Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain contributes the following notes on the 

 food of this species : 



As it is almost invariably found near the coast the food is chiefly marine 

 in character: Mollusca, chiefly small univalves such as Litorina (L. Florence 

 records 134 opercula of small molluscks) ; small Crustacea, especially Gam- 

 maridae; A. H. Clark records fry of a small fish {Sicydium plumicri) 



