EGG-BIRD. 435 



egg-gathering is regulated by a custom which re- 

 cognises the first-coming vessel as commanding for 

 the season. The second vessel in seniority is called 

 the Commodore ; the first being styled the Admiral. 

 They have a code of laws, to which, in a spirit of 

 honourable compliance, all are expected to shew 

 obedience ; and in case of any infraction of the 

 obligations thus voluntarily imposed upon them- 

 selves, a jury selected from the several vessels try 

 complaints, and with due formality inflict punish- 

 ment for offences. 



" The only kind of vegetation, excepting a single 

 cocoa-nut, on these desert rocks, is a stunted tree, 

 called by the egg-gatherers saffron-wood. It is 

 extremely resinous, and the leaves are used by 

 them as tea; and I suspect it is the same plant 

 as the tea-shrub of the Bahama islands. Among 

 the branches of these trees, at a very small ele- 

 vation from the ground, the Noddies build nests, 

 that have become large by a long accumulation 

 of dung and sticks. The nests are resorted to for 

 a succession of years, and are repaired and raised 

 upon, season after season, till they have grown 

 into huge piles, among the branches ; — the large 

 masses of interwoven twigs prevailing even more 

 than the green foliage. The Egg-bird and the 

 Sandwich Tern, if they are unable to gather any 

 of the dead foliage of these shrubs, or any dried 

 leaves of sea-weed, as a covering for the cavity 

 in the rock in which tlieij nestle, lay their eggs 

 on the bare sand : just making so much of a de- 

 pression by scratching the ground as suffices to 



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