HISTORICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF HOMING. 



57 



m., in good condition; not sitting on egg; 



m., in good condition; sitting on egg. 

 did not take nest; discovered by accident. 



May 26: Noddy No. 20 noted at 10'' .SO" a. ni.; was on limb near nest. Evidently had 

 returned some time earlier in the morning. Poor condition. Seemed tired and worn. 

 After a few days' rest bird began regular nesting activities. 



May 27: Sooty No. 8 noted at S*" SO" a. m., in good condition; took nest and sat on egg. 



May 27: Sooty No. 10 noted at .')'" .30"" a. m., in good condition; was sitting egg when noted. 



May 27: Noddy No. 24 returned at Vl'^ 14" p. m., very tired; took nest and was on nest 

 when observed. Feathers in good condition. After a few days of rest normal nesting 

 activities were resumed. 



May 2S: Sooty No. 12 found on egg at 9 a. m., in good condition; seemed quite fresh; was 

 eagerly tending egg. 



May 29: Sooty No. 11 on nest at .5 a. m., covering egg eagerly; condition good. This bird 

 was very fierce when captured; had lost none of its fierceness; stood ground while I 

 came up to the nest; mate not on hand. R must have come back at night, as it was 

 not there at dark on the day before. 



May 29: Sooty No. 1 noted on nest at T"" 30" a. 

 mate had deserted egg several days before. 



May 30: Sooty No. 5 noted on nest at ll"" 3.5" a. 



June 2: Noddy No. 18 noted near nest at 8 a. m. 



The mate had been away, or rather idly sitting by, for several days. To-day and 

 yesterday O had been on the nest more than usual. This aroused my suspicions, so 

 I made a more thorough search. The bird seemed tired; did not fly away from limb 

 as I approached, as rested birds always do. Possibly it did not return imtil to-day. 



June 4: Noddy No. 14 noted near nest at 5 a. m. in fine condition; marking very clear; did 

 not take nest at first, since nest mate was on. Yesterday I had decided that this nest 

 had been deserted by O. I had often seen O nearby, flirting with a strange bird. 

 Yesterday morning was actually taking food from strange bird in the nest. This 

 morning both these birds were on and refused to let the marked bird on the nest; 

 interesting to see if nest can be reestablished. (R fought with the intruder for several 

 days to get posession of the nest, but nesting relations were never resumed between 

 R 'and O.) 



June 7: Noddy No. 17 noted on nest at 7'" 30" p. m. Bird probably had been back since 

 June 5. Marking on breast had almost disappeared; hence my failure to note. This 

 morning when I went out both birds were at the nest. This caused thorough examina- 

 tion, with the result that the marking was clearly recognized. Both were tending the 

 nest. O had been very faithful all during R's absence. 



The results of the second Galveston trip are put in convenient form in 

 tables 20 and 21. 



Table 20. 



The Galveston-Tortugas flight is deserving of some comment, as it shows the 

 remarkable homing ability of these birds. It was not until this final trip that 

 the conditions for caring for the terns approached those which are maintained 

 for the homing pigeon. Even upon this trip the mistake was made of making 

 the compartment too small. This tended to fray the feathers of the birds in 

 such a way that the birds were probably somewhat hampered in their long 



