246 WuiThocK, Birds Breeding in Dampier Archipelago. [,^fXprii 



Phalacrocorax hypoleucus. Pied Cormorant. — This fine Cormorant 

 is met with throughout the archipelago, but the only breeding-place 

 I visited was the prominent rocky island adjacent to the island I 

 propose to call Osprey Island. The sides of this island rise pre- 

 cipitously from the suri'ounding sea, but at one place the cliff has 

 fallen down, and it is possible without much difficulty to land there 

 and ascend to the top of the island. On the south-eastern side of 

 the island the cliff is terraced, and here the Cormorants have made 

 their home. So numerous and close together were the nests that it 

 was at times difficult to walk without treading on eggs or young. 

 The nests were placed close together, and were well-made structures 

 of coarse spinifex stems {Spinifex longifolius). At the time of my 

 visit eggs in every stage of freshness and incubation, and young of 

 all ages, were observed, but I noticed at the eastern end of the colony 

 the young were nearer maturity than in other parts, and at the 

 western end were many nests with uncompleted clutches. Four 

 seemed to be the full complement of eggs. Looking down into the 

 clear water at the foot of the cliff, it was suggestive of tragedy to come, 

 for the young, to observe numerous large and hungry sharks cruising 

 about. 



Hydroprogne caspia. Caspian Tern. — The Caspian Tern breeds on 

 the shores of many of the islands of the Archipelago. It is an early 

 breeder, and I was much surprised to find young nearly able to fly 

 on 5th July. I espied a colony of sea-birds on a coral beach as we 

 sailed by Enderby Island. A pair of Ospreys, which I detected with 

 the aid of my glasses, determined me to land. A nearer inspection 

 proved the sea-birds to be Caspian Terns. In all there were about 

 thirty to forty pairs nesting just above high spring-tide mark. The 

 nests were merely slight depressions in the sand, and the eggs in 

 every case numbered two, always deposited in the nest with the 

 small ends pointing in opposite directions. As a rule, the pairs of 

 eggs were very ill-matched, either in point of size or in the tone of 

 their ground-colour. For ail that they did not exhibit any great 

 variety. Sturt peas (Clianthus dampieri) were growing at this 

 nesting-place. On several other islands I discovered smaller colonies, 

 not exceeding half a dozen pairs ; but on Cormorant Island was a 

 larger colon3^ nesting on the summit of the rock. Despite the much 

 later date, these eggs were fresh, and my Japanese boatman selected 

 a few for culinary purposes. 



Sternula nereis. White-faced Ternlet. — There were small parties 

 of this little Tern on the beaches of several of the islands on which I 

 landed. Though they pretended great anxiety, following me half 

 round an island, perhaps, they were not really nesting. It was not 

 until I was nearing Eaglehawk Island on my way home that I found 

 a breeding colony. The site was a small rocky peninsula, cut off 

 from the mainland at high tides only. A pair of Ospreys had a nest 

 on the peninsula, and a number of young Caspian Terns were hiding 

 in the coarse herbage. The White-faced Ternlets were nesting on 

 a small patch of white coral sand. The nests were mere hollows in 

 the sand, and were very close together, the whole colony not occupying 

 half a chain of ground. There were two eggs in most of the nests. 

 The parent birds flew overhead in one noisy, agitated flock whilst I 

 remained near their nests. This w.is on 31st August. A few sets 

 of eggs I selected were quite fresh. 



