ON LONELY BIRD KEY 
91 
Here, too, at the outset, we began to see the manner of life 
of the Sooty Tern. Their homes are never on the bushes, but 
on the ground, either under shelter of the foliage or out in 
the open spots. Home-making is reduced to the lowest 
terms; merely a hollow scratched in the sand, and all is 
ready. It seems strange that both these species lay but one 
egg. If robbed, they will lay again and again, but each pair 
raises only a single chick each season. This is one of the 
r 
MAN-O’-WAR BIRDS AT THEIR ROOST 
(One is still asleep) 
wonderful adaptations of nature, that the birds which have 
few natural enemies should have small families, while those 
much persecuted — like ducks and grouse — have large 
broods. The eggs of both these terns are about two inches 
long, of a buffy white, with reddish markings, but are dis¬ 
tinguishable in that those of the Noddy are less marked, 
though the situation, upon ground or bush, makes the matter 
certain. Verv rarely the Sooty Tern has two eggs, but I never 
found more than one in the possession of a Noddy. 
I soon found that, for breeding purposes, the two species 
had apportioned off the island into separate communities. 
