of Sea-Birds frequenting Norfolk Island ^c. 265 



ou Norfolk and Philip Islands^ but not on Nepean Island^ as 

 there are no trees there. It makes a beautiful slightly cupped 

 little nest of fresh sea-weed^ which it firmly cements to the 

 bough of a tree. The nests are placed all along the boughs, 

 sometimes six or more on the same bough a short distance 

 apart, and in the forks as well. One e^^ only is laid in each 

 nest. The birds are very tame, and may be taken oif their 

 nests, though they strike hard with their bills at intruders. 

 The larger Noddy and the Sooty Terns, on the other hand, 

 will not allow themselves to be taken off their eggs, nor can 

 they be caught, though they come so near as to be readily 

 knocked over with a stick or stone. The eggs of A. mela- 

 nogenys vary but little; they measure 1*75 inch by 1*25, 

 and much resemble Noddies* eggs in colour and markings. 

 The tree on which I have always seen the nests of this 

 bird placed is the white oak [Lagunaria patersoni). I have 

 seen them on small trees growing on the coast, a few feet 

 above the sea, and fully exposed to the wind ; but the site 

 usually chosen is a sheltered valley about half a mile from 

 the sea. 



Anous cinereus, Gould. 



These Grey Terns, called by the Norfolk-Islanders the 

 "Little Blue PetreV are fairly numerous during the breeding- 

 season. They lay their eggs on Philip and Nepean Islands 

 and the neighbouring rocks. The eggs are usually placed on 

 inaccessible ledges, but often on the sand, sometimes not 

 many feet above the sea, but usually at from 80 to 2000 feet. 

 They make no attempt at a nest, and lay only one egg, which 

 is the most easily broken of all the sea-birds^ eggs found on 

 these islands. The eggs much resemble those of the other 

 species of Noddy, but the ground-colour is rather darker, and 

 the spots are numerous, small, and more generally distributed 

 over the whole surface than in the eggs of the other species. 

 They measure on an average 1*6 inch in length by 1'12 in 

 breadth, and vary but little either in size or in markings. 

 These birds do not, as a rule, lay in colonies, but here and 

 there, like the larger Noddy, though sometimes one comes. 



