Chap, xiv.] GANNETS AND FRIGATE BIRDS. 30I 



Philippines. These birds were tame, and were knocked down 

 with Slicks and caught by the hand. They had full-fledged 

 young running about. 



A Tern {Sterna fuliginosa), a widely spread species, the 

 well-known "Wideawake" of Ascension Island, was exceedingly 

 abundant. The stretches of flat ground above the shore Ime 

 covered with grass were absolutely full of the brown fledged 

 young of this bird. Eggs were already very scarce. A Noddy 

 {Anous sto/idns), the same bird as that at St. Paul's Rocks and 

 Inaccessible Island, so far off in the Atlantic, makes here a 

 rude nest of twigs and grass amongst the low bushes, but often 

 nests also on the ground. There were plenty of eggs of this 

 bird, as it was not so advanced in breeding as the tern. 



Two species of Gannets, Sula kiicogaster and Sula cyaiiops, 

 were nesting on the ground, and especially on a plot of ground 

 quite flat and bare of vegetation ; probably the site of the 

 dwellings of the men employed in 1844 in putting up the 

 beacon on Raine Island. Sula kiicogaster, the Booby of St. 

 Paul's Rocks, makes a slight nest of green twigs and grass on 

 the ground. Sula cyanops makes a circular hole in the earth, 

 about \h inch deep. This species is nearly white, with the 

 naked parts about the head of a dull blue, and with a bright 

 yellow iris, which gives the bird a ferocious look as it ruffles 

 its feathers and croaks at an intruder. It would almost seem 

 that the colour of the eye has arisen through natural selection, 

 the savage appearance which it gives to the bird being probably 

 a safeguard against attack. A third smaller species of Gannet 

 {Sula piscatrix) has red feet, which distinguish it at once from 

 the other two. I saw one or two of its nests made in the 

 bushes, like those of the noddies, raised six inches from the 

 ground. 



There remain to be mentioned the " Frigate Birds" {Tachy- 

 petes minor). Their nests were nearly all confined to a small 

 area near the cleared patch already referred to. They are 

 like those of Sula piscatrix, raised on the bushes, and are 

 compact platform-like masses of twigs and grass matted together 

 with dung, about eight inches in diameter. There were no 

 eggs of the birds in the nests, but mostly far advanced young, 

 which were covered with frills of a rusty coloured down. The 

 old birds soared overhead, and could only be obtained by 

 being shot ; whereas the gannets were easily knocked over on 

 the nests with sticks. It is curious to see the Frigate Birds, 

 the nesting-place of which is usually on high cliffs, as at 

 Fernando Noronha, here, through the entire security of the 

 locality, nesting on the ground. The main body of the Frigate 

 birds remained during our stay soaring high up in the air, with 



