418 LARID.E. 



some distance from land, but occasionally pursues its prey 

 into the estuaries of tlie larger Irish rivers, or along the outer 

 shores of the coast." 



M. Temminck, in the 4th Part of his Manual, published 

 in 1840, mentions that the Noddy has been seen on the coast 

 of France, and Dr. Latham says he was told that they lay 

 their eggs in vast numbers on certain small rocky isles near 

 St. Helena. 



We are indebted to American ornithologists for the best 

 accounts of the habits of this Tern. Mr. Audubon says, 

 " about the beginning of May the Noddies collect from all 

 parts of the Gulf of Mexico and the coasts of Florida, for 

 the purpose of returning to their breeding places on one of 

 the Tortugas called Noddy Key. These birds form regular 

 nests of twigs and dry grass, which they place on the bushes 

 or low trees, but never on the ground. On visiting their 

 island on the 11th of May, 1832, I was surprised to see that 

 many of them Avere repairing and augmenting nests that had 

 remained through the winter, while others were employed in 

 constructing new ones, and some were already sitting on their 

 eggs. In a great many instances, the repaired nests formed 

 masses nearly two feet in height, and yet all of them had 

 only a slight hollow for the eggs, broken shells of which were 

 found among the entire ones, as if they had been purposely 

 placed there. The birds did not discontinue their labours, 

 although there were nine or ten of us walking among the 

 bushes, and when we had gone a few yards into the thicket, 

 thousands of them flew quite low over us, some at times 

 coming so close as to enable us to catch a few of them with 

 the hand. On one side might be seen a Noddy carrying a 

 stick in its bill, or a bird picking up something from the 

 ground to add to its nest ; on the other, several were seen 

 sitting on their eggs unconscious of tlangcr, while their mates 

 brought them food. The greater part rose on wing as we 



