264 Dr. W. M. Crowfoot on the Breeding -habits 



Metcalfe, Resident Medical Officer at Norfolk Island. The 

 skins of the Terns which accompanied the eggs were kindly 

 identified for me by Mr. Saunders, the Petrels by Mr. Salvin, 

 and the other birds by Mr, Sharpe. 



Anous stolidus (Linn.). Noddy Tern. 



This bird breeds on Philip and Nepean Islands and the 

 adjacent rocks. Philip Island is a small uninhabited rocky 

 island lying about four and a half miles S.S.E. of Norfolk 

 Island, Nepean Island, also lying to the S.S.E. of Norfolk 

 Island, and half a mile distant from it, is a flat barren rock 

 covered with sand. The Noddies begin to lay about a month 

 after the Sooty Terns, i. e. in October, though a few eggs 

 may be found earlier. The eggs are not laid in large colonies, 

 but here and there, in convenient spots, all over the island. 

 The Noddy always makes some kind of nest ; I have seen it 

 made of dry grass, bits of sea-weed, dry sticks or twigs, and 

 fish-bones. As a rule, there is nothing but a basement made. 

 The material is merely laid in a heap, as it were, in a shallow 

 hollow, and the egg, only one, is laid thereon. In one in- 

 stance I found a considerable attempt at building a nest on 

 the top of a dead tree-stump, about 3 feet from the ground ; 

 it consisted of a mass of grass, twigs, and sea- weed, but 

 there was no interweaving of the materials, and it resembled 

 the base of a common English Blackbird's nest after the 

 nest itself has been taken and the foundation left. The 

 bird was sitting when I saw it. Noddies' eggs vary very 

 little in appearance and size : the yolk is bright yellow. 

 The breeding-time lasts from the beginning of October till 

 January. The eggs may occasionally be obtained till the end 

 of that month, but the greatest number are laid in October 

 and November, The nests may be placed on sand, rock, 

 tree-stumps, or grass; but sandy spots are the ones most 

 frequently selected. I have never seen more than one egg 

 in a nest. 



Angus melanogenys, G. K. Gr. 



The smaller Noddy Tern is called by the Norfolk-Islanders 

 [lie '' Titissack," from the noise it makes. This bird breeds 



