92



Mr. J. L. Bonhote,



short time, there is a large pool of fresh water, and on most

mornings, flocks of these birds, in which the males greatly out¬

numbered the females, used to come and splash about like

Swallows, never settling on the water, but dashing into it and

rising again at once. This would be repeated a few times and

then the flock would gradually make off again, slowly soaring

round in ever increasing circles till they became lost in the

distance. This was in March, during the early part of the

breeding season, the nearest colony being about 40 miles away.

My first visit to inhabited Cays took place early in May, and I had

them under fairly close observation for about a fortnight. Three

species of Terns were breeding on the Cay, viz. : The Noddy,

Sooty, and the Bridled, and, on my first arrival, Royal, Sandwich,

and Lesser were also seen there, but apparently not breeding.

Although the island was at the utmost half a mile long by a

cpiarterof a mile broad, each species had its particular distribu¬

tion : the Sooty, which was perhaps the most abundant, nested

chiefly in colonies where the prickly pear was not more than a

foot in height, and, in such a place, the eggs would be crowded

together hardly a couple of feet apart ; besides these, under

the bushes all over the island, would be found scattered

nests, more often in groups together but sometimes singly. The

Sooty makes no nest whatever, merely laying its single egg on the

bare rocks ; in only one case, out of the many thousands I must

have seen, did I find more than one egg in a nest, but in this

case the eggs were so dissimilar that I expect them to have been

the produce of different birds.


In the more open places the birds all sit fairly close,

allowing an approach to within three or four feet, but under the

cover of the bushes they were much tamer, and allowed them¬

selves to be taken off the nest without attempting to fly away.

The Soot} ? Tern lays its eggs in the middle of May about a

fortnight later than the Noddy Tern.


This latter was, next the Sooty, the most numerous

inhabitant of the rock, and their nests were found scattered

about everywhere, the majority being on the ground under the

bushes. Like the Sooty, it only lays a single egg, and, when on

the ground, makes no real nest, but collects a few small stones



