•SI-LA 347 



Sooty lerns ( Sln'iia fiilii;iih'i,i j, or ■■ Wide-awake," which uttered an incessant " k-a-l<a," wliether 

 flying in the air or turning and twisting; as they sat upon an egg or newly hatched young, at the 

 unusual proNimity of an intruder. Next in number were the Masked Gannets (Suln cyanops). 

 Some had to be lifted oil the e:4g or eggs they were sitting upon, which \-aried from one to three 

 in number, and all perfectly fresh: some I afterwards blew, shewing not the slightest trace of 

 incubation. Some of the birds waddled ungainly off their nest at one's approach, if nest it could 

 be called, for in many instances it consisted of the flat bare soil or rock ; others had a slight 

 amount of debris scraped around. The Masked Gannets sat like giants amongst pigmies, for 

 wherever one went on any part of the island it was covered at a distance of a foot or two apart 

 with sitting birds, eggs or young, but the Gannets were more numerous on the higher parts. 

 The Noddy (A nous staliJiis) was at the time of our visit very rare, only about six pairs being 

 found nesting, and the single egg on which they were sitting, generally near the outer grassed- 

 topped edge of the island, were with two or three exceptions more or less incubated. The 

 accompanying figure, reproduced from a photograph by Mr. Percival K. I'edley, shows only a 

 small portion of the island visited, also some of the smaller islands of the L;roup, with Mounts 

 Lidgbird and Gower on Loid Howe Island in the distance. 



The eggs are usually two in number for a sitting, oval or elliptical in form, varying in 

 size, and are of a pale bluish- white ground colour, which is more or less obscured with an irregular 

 coating of lime ; after being sat upon for a few days they become soiled with the feet of the 

 sitting bird, and assume a dirty brown hue. Six eggs taken from different nests on one of the 

 .'\dmiralty Rocks measure : — Lenj^th (.\) 2-47 x j-S.^ inches; (M) 2-h2 >■ i-^8 inches; (C) 

 2-47 X i-y inches; (D) 2-h^ x i-Si inches; (K) 2-h x 1-87 inches; (F) 2-57 x 1-9 inches. 

 An egg taken on Nepe.in Island, lying off Norfolk Island, on the 2jrd (Jctober, 1885, measures : — 

 Length 2-62 x i-S2 inches. A set of two taken on the same date measures : — Length (A) 2'55 



x i-Q inches; (B) 2-4^ x 1-87 inches. Another set of two taken by Dr. W. Macgillivray on 

 the 30th October, 1910, on Kaine Islet, measures: — Length (A) 2'57 ■: rS5 inches; (B) 2-53 



x 1-79 inches. 



Gn Great Admiralty Rock eggs of the Masked Gannet were found from September to 

 December, Dr. P. H. Metcalfe has taken eggs on Nepean and Phillip Islands from October to 

 January, and has found young birds on the 27th October, while on the outlying islands off the 

 North-eastern Australian cuast, nests with e.Ljgs were found in April and May. 



Sula piscatrix. 



i;ei)-legued g.\nnet. 



I'elecaiius pincdliir. Linn., Syst. Nat., Tom. I., p. 217 (1760). 



,SWrt /;iscrt^or, Gould, Bds. Austr., fo!. Vol. VII., pi. 79(1848); i,l., Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. 

 II., p. 509 (1865); Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. Bds. Brit. M us., Vol. XXVI., p. 432 (1898). 



Sida jiiscatri.r, Sharpe, Haiid-1. Bds., Vol. I., p. 237 (1899). 



Adult malk. — Gein'ral colour ahore and bi'fo/r pure white ; ou/i-r seri<:-i of medium and greai/'r 

 upper ivlng-corerts, (he primary corerls, primaries and outer secondaries lioary-ijrey on the outer icehs 

 blackish on the inner. Total length 30 inches, wiug lo, tail 9 5, bill .JvT, tarsus V5 



Adult femalr. — Similar in plnmnge to llie male. 



Uistrihiitioii. — Seas and islands of the Northern Territory of South Australia, islands of 

 Northern and North-eastern Queensland and Torres Strait. 



