Nesting-places of Gannets and Terns. 65 



a swarm of bees over a hive, and the noise they made could 

 be heard a long way oflf. 



The island is about half a mile long by a quarter of a mile 

 wide, and two places in the centre of it had been selected as 

 nesting-stations by the Sooty Terns {Sterna fuliginosa and 

 S. ancestheta). All, or nearly all, these birds had young, and 

 their serried masses hid the ground, while, as you approached, 

 the chicks ran away or opened out to let you pass, and the 

 effect was like a moving black carpet. I only walked on the 

 outskirts of this tliroug of birds, but that was quite enough, 

 for the old birds literally mobbed me, striiving me repeatedly 

 with their wings and shrieking in a most deafening manner. 

 So fearless were they that one could catch them by the hand 

 as fast as one liked. 



The ground here was bare of herbage ; but close round the 

 outside of the colony long coarse grass grew abundantly, 

 and this was alive with Noddies [Anoiis stolidus), all with 

 nestlings or hard-set eggs. These birds were even more 

 pugnacious than the Sooty Terns. All three species lay 

 only one egg ; at least I never saw more than one egg or 

 young bird in a nest. 



Dotted about the rest of the island could be seen Gannets 

 {Sula cyanops and 8. leucogastra) sitting on their nests, off 

 which they had to be pushed with a stick ; they fought 

 savagely, and repeatedly struck the stick with beak and wings, 

 hissing loudly. They had all hard-set eggs or young. Some 

 nests contained two eggs, but I invariably found one of these 

 to be infertile or rotten, while there never was more than one 

 young bird in a nest. 



Jast above the shingle at one corner of the island a colony 

 of Roseate Terns {Sterna dougaUi) were nesting, their eggs 

 being in all stages of incubation. These had sometimes three, 

 two, or one egg, and at first I thought that where there 

 were only one or two eggs they would prove fresh, but such 

 was not the case. Nearly all the eggs of these birds were 

 fertile. The nests were close together, and very few had 

 young. 



Not far from the Roseate Terns there was a small colony 



SBK. VII. — VOL. VI. r 



