72 EGG CHECK LIST OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 
the thick grass and weeds, others in plain sight, the nests covered the 
ground, and three or four nests could sometimes be reached without tak- 
ing astep. These nests were nothing but slight hollows in the ground, 
lined with dry grass, and contained, usually, two eggs. Iam satisfied that 
this is the usual number laid by this species, as there were but two sets 
containing three eggs, out of more than two hundred eggs that we took, 
and the sets were completed as incubation was begun in nearly every 
set, while many were almost hatched. Many of the birds lay their eggs — 
on the shore, just above high water mark, but none of these are ever 
hatched, as Capt. Brooks, the owner of the island, and who is light-house 
keeper on Faulkner’s Island, picks them all up every two or three daysand 
takes them home to eat, while he leaves those on the upland to hatch. 
The eggs of this species differ from those of Sterna fluviatilis in 
shape and markings, being usually less blunted at the small end, and the 
markings are usually much finer and very much more numerous. By 
placing a tray of eggs of each species side by side, the difference is very 
marked, and they can be distinguished at a glance. 
While we were taking the eggs the birds hovered in great numbers 
close over our heads, sending forth the harsh gutteral cry peculiar to this spe- 
cies, then suddenly all would fly off to windward, uttering cries which 
sounded like the syllable, tip, tip, tip, uttered in a high key, only to return 
again with their harsh cries. They repeated these cries time after 
time, as long as we remained there. , 
The sight of clouds of these beautiful birds, with their easy, grace- 
ful flight, as they circle and hover over their breeding ground, is one that 
can be imagined better than described, but when once witnessed by the 
collector will never be forgotten.” 
I am indebted to Mr. M. B. Griffing for the above interesting de- 
- scription, the results of his close observations. 
=I 
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Cymochorea leucorrhoa. 
Leach’s Petrel. 
In ‘‘The Young Oologist’’ for November, 1884, Mr. Charles Achorn, 
of Rockland, Me., has written a very pleasing article on the nesting habits 
of the Petrels at Seal Harbor. Mr. Achorn, accompanied by two 
friends, arrived at the place about 8 A. m. on the 15th of June, and 
immediately started for Little Green, an island about eight miles out to 
sea, where the Terns and Petrels nest. Referring to Tern’s eggs the 
writer says: ‘‘In a short time we had obtained all the eggs we wanted, 
