Habits and Haunts of the Nolo. 199 



even so serves to keep the eggs and newly-hatched young 

 from the bare rock and, what is perhaps of more importance, 

 prevents them from rolling off the sloping and insecure 

 ledges. However, not many days pass after the Noio is 

 hatched before it is able to look after itself. It scrambles 

 over the rocky shelf to meet the parent bird when it comes 

 with food, and upon detecting danger stows itself away in 

 some crack or deep recess till reassured by the well-known 

 summons. 



Like the ordinary Noddy Tern, the Noio lays but one 

 Ggg, while its breeding-season appears to be prolonged, for I 

 have found fresh eggs as early as February 11, and have 

 seen newly-hatched young as late as July 1. The prolon- 

 gation may, in part, be due to the birds being disturbed, in 

 part to the lack of suitable nesting-sites. The volcanic 

 cliffs, owing to the nature of the cleavage, probably do not 

 offer a sufficiency of suitable ledges and shelves for all the 

 pairs, so that some have to wait their turn until later. Be 

 the explanation what it may, in one cave that I often 

 visited there were always fifteen or twenty pairs of birds, 

 while I have never found more than six eggs and young at 

 the same time. 



Under these circumstances it would be interesting to 

 discover if such colonies are not to some extent communal. 

 It is possible that all the old birds contribute more or less 

 to the support of the young, as they are hatched from month 

 to month, whether they be their own offspring or those of 

 others. Such a habit is quite conceivable in the case of a 

 bird so gentle and affectionate as the Noio. 



The eggs resemble those of other species of Noddy. The 

 ground-colour is a rather clear greyish white, but is apt to be 

 stained by contact with the nest to a dirty brown of varying 

 intensity. The amount of marking varies within wide limits. 

 Many specimens are spotted and blotched with clove-brown, 

 which is sometimes so thickly deposited as to appear almost 

 black. One that lies before me is heavily clouded with dark 

 lilac, and has smaller markings of clove-brown. When over- 

 laid with lime the markings appear purplish. 



