NATATORES. 415 



rius, an insect which occurs in amazing numbers, and gave 

 me a great deal of uneasiness and constant trouble to preserve 

 my collection from their repeated attacks. I did not observe 

 the Noddy on any but the South Island. As it finds an 

 abundant supply of food, consisting of small fish, small mol- 

 lusca, medusae, cuttle-fish, &c., immediately outside the outer 

 reef, it has no occasion to go far out to sea ; I never observed 

 it feeding in the smooth quiet water between the outer reef 

 and the islands." 



" The large Noddy," says Mr. Macgillivray, " is abundantly 

 distributed over Torres Straits, but I never met with it to the 

 southward of Raine's Islet, on which, as at Bramble Key, it 

 was found breeding iu prodigious numbers. Unlike its con- 

 stant associate, the Sooty Tern, it constructs a shallow nest of 

 small twigs arranged in a slovenly manner, over which are 

 strewed about a handful of fragments of coral from the beach, 

 shells, and occasionally portions of tortoise-shell and bones of 

 turtle. The nest is sometimes placed upon the ground, but 

 more usually upon tufts of grass and other herbage at about a 

 foot from the ground." 



I here transcribe Audubon's account of the breeding of the 

 true Anous stolidiis, as it is not only interesting in itself, but, 

 when coupled with Gilbert's and Macgilhvray's observations 

 on the Australian bird, may tend to show that in this, as in 

 many other instances, birds inhabiting opposite sides of the 

 equator have very similar habits ; and whether identical or 

 not, it is somewhat singular that the American Noddy should 

 lay two eggs and the Australian but one. 



"The Noddies," says Audubon, "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 1882, I was surprised to see that many of 

 them were repairing and augmenting nests that had remained 

 throughout the winter, while others were employed in con- 

 structing new ones, and some were already sitting on their 



