40 



AN AUSTRALIAN BIRD BOOK. 



70 Sooty Tern, Wide-awake, Egg-bird, £. fuliginosa (8. fus- 

 cata, A.O.U. ), tropical, sub-tropical seas, Br. (ace). 



v.c. shores 17 

 Upper, crown, wings, line from bill past eye, tail black; 

 forehead, under white; bill, feet black; like 69, but 

 larger, blacker above; f., sim. Fish, squid. "Oo-ee." 

 71* White-faced Ternlet, Sea-swallow, Little (Fairy) Tern, 

 Taraiti, S. nereis, A., N.Z. =rvt. Eur. Little Tern. 



c. shore 10.5 



bird but leave the nest for a moment, and Gulls quickly rob it of 

 its contents. They are scavengers, and eagerly follow a 

 3teamer at lunch-time to gather the scraps. An interesting sight 

 of Currie Harbor, King Island, is to see the large company of 

 Seagulls nesting undisturbed on a tiny, bare, rocky islet close to 

 the pier. 



It was noted that, whenever the Noddies were disturbed, and 

 rose, protesting loudly, the Gulls immediately gathered and 

 hovered over the trees containing Noddies' nests. Evidently 

 they were looking for unprotected eggs. 



Placed in the next family are the seven robber Gulls or sea 

 pirates — Skuas. We read of these birds in the old Royal 

 Readers, but few recognized them when they followed us to the 

 Summer School of 1910. They also followed our afternoon-tea 

 cruise to South Channel fort, and played their usual game of 

 compelling the Seagulls to give up the scraps they had gathered- 



