'"^i;!-! Scorr on tlie Birds of ^(i)nanii . ^'^Q 



to roost, dropping to tlie surface of the water imnicdiately on clearing tlie 

 shore. Notwithstanding tiieir apparent abniulance, the Noddies, in point 

 of numbers, sink into comparative insignificance after tiie arrival of tiie 

 Sooty 'J'erns. 



"I went the round of the bushes and examined the nests of tlie Noddies. 

 Every avaihible bush was covered with them. I found in one nest a last 

 year's egg bleached perfectly white from exposure. 



••arhe materials forming the nests were always tlie same: just a few 

 dry twigs from the same bush, which the dung of the birds had in most 

 cases cemented into a tolerably firm mat. Very little seaweed is used, 

 only here and there a small clump of gulf-weed. Some of the nests aie 

 ridiculously small and very few showed any appreciable concavity. There 

 were no remains of old nests on the ground. 



•'My first care on examining the nests was to look for traces of the 

 broken shells (sea shells) 'speckled and spotted like the eggs,' said to 

 be always found in the nests of the Noddies (Gosse. Hirds of Jamaica, p. 

 436.) Very many nests, indeed, contained a few small shells (univalves) 

 but these were always perfect, and, though of various species, quite devoid 

 of the speckled and spotted appearance of a f'J'oddy's egg. These shells I 

 judged to be merely the discarded tenements of the hermit-crabs which 

 infested the bushes and were constantly engaged in clambering among 

 the branches and between the interstices of the nests. I must have 

 examined scores of nests, many of them apparently old ones, but did not 

 see any exceptionally large or at all approaching to the 'musses nearly 

 two feet in height,' described by Audubon. For further notes resjieclino- 

 the nesting habits of this bird I am indebted to the kindness of Captain 

 Cole, the lessee of the Cays, wlio wi'ites me on the 2nd May as follows : 



" 'The birds did not begin to an-ive before the 26th (April) and are now 

 beginning to lay. The Noddies like those you captured, i.e., brown-black, 

 with white caps, are about one-half the number of birds arrivin<T: the 

 others are larger, brown-black on back and top of wings, all under body 

 from beak to tail, white.. ..On their first arrival they are for the first two 

 tl:i\'s flying about in great excitement choosing their mates ( .^) ; as soon 

 as this is done the hen chooses her spot for laying, either in the bushes 

 or on the ground (the dark Noddies in the bush, the large birds, white 

 untierneath, on the ground). The hen then keeps guard over every hit 

 of material brought by the male for the nest, and if she does not keep a 

 sharp lookout the otheis steal her sticks, dry seawecti, and bits of bush.' 



"The Noddy has occurred in Kingston harbor. I once had one brought 

 tome living, but in a very exhausted condition, as it was captured while 

 seated on the bow of a small yacht moored near the shore at Rae Town. 

 It lived for a few days, feeding eagerly on scraps of fish, etc. On a 

 recent visit to Rackum Cay near Port Royal, two of these biids were 

 seen and one was shot. The wind at the time .was very high and squally, 

 with occasional showers of rain ; a state of weather. I have noticed, that 

 invariably precedes the ajipearance near Kingston of most of the rarer 

 examples of the Laridic. 



