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i;. Anous stolidus [J.iiiu.). Noddy. — 'J'hisTern is spoken of b v (jos.se 

 (Birds of Jam iic;i, pp. 454-437) ;is bemjj;- common :it Pedro Cays. I did 

 not meet witii it at -.xwy point on the sliores of Jamaica, bntgive Mr. Tay- 

 lor's verv fnll and interestini^ notes, as follows: "In April, 1890, I visited 

 the Morant Cays, ni\' main object being to acqnire evidence as to the 

 exact number of eggs normally deposited by the Noddy and Sooty Ternh, 

 concerning which, until lately, considerable doubt appears to have ex- 

 isted. I have all along believed that only a single egg is deposited by 

 either species, and the information I have from time to time elicited from 

 tlie egg-gatherers and others acquainted with the birds has always been 

 in support of the assumption. On this occasion circumstances compelled 

 me to leave the Cavs before the general airival of the birds, but the ques- 

 tion has since been definitely settled by Captain Jas. B. Young of II. M. 

 S. 'Pylades', whose observations, made during a visit to the Cays in June 

 of the same year, form the subject of a communication appearing in the 

 January number of 'The Ibis' for this year. 



"At the time of mv arrival at the Cays (2d April) there were no Sooty 

 Terns there and very few Noddies, but these latter increased in numbers 

 dailv, until bv the 19th April, the date of my lieparture, they had assem- 

 bled m hundreds and were evidently preparing to lay, yet in two females 

 taken two or three days after my arrival, the eggs in the ovaries were 

 very small. 



"Soon after sunset the birds came in to roost among the low bushes 

 fringing the shore, and uji to a late hour many kept arriving. They flew 

 very swiftlv,just skimming the surface of the water, and, standing on the 

 shore at dusk (the time they began to arrive), it was rarely possible to 

 see the birds coming until they were actually on the island. They 

 alighted noiselessly and instantly on gaining the fringing bushes; later 

 in the month, however, as their numbers increased, belated birds found 

 difficultv in effecting an easy landing among the branches, those already 

 in possession pecking right and left at all new comers and croaking 

 harshly. Each day, as their numbers increased, they became more vocif- 

 erous, until at last the melancholy wail of those flying overhead and the 

 croak of the sitting birds was kept up without intermission all through 

 the night. On moonlight nights they appeared unusually abundant and 

 restless. 



"I have watched them there until far into the night, as in scores they 

 kept flying to and from the bushes. Although up and about before dawn 

 on most mornings, I was seldom in time to watch the Noddies leave their 

 roost. One morning, however, I got a good idea of their numbers. It 

 wanted about an hour or so of daybreak, and the moon was still bright, 

 when someone walking along the shore appeared to give a general alarm. 

 Scores of birds got up and went swiftly out to sea, and for some little time 

 a constant stream poured out from the bushes along the shores in every 

 direction, as far as it was possible to see; flying before tne wind, they 

 went out of sight in an instant. 



"They left the land always in the same manner in which they come in 



