CORAL ISLES 



213 



was barred by the shadows of flying birds. Often I 

 walked alone from the camp to Frigate-Bird Point, 

 where, seated on a sand hummock, I endeavoured 

 to identify birds by their notes. The night was 

 always loud with bird voices, which drowned the 

 musical ripple of the sea, and the croon of She-oak 



NEST AND EGG OF WHITE - CAPPED NODDY. 



boughs. Thousands of shadowy forms passed over- 

 head, to and from the sea and the scrub, and thou- 

 sands patrolled the beach. The plaintive calls of 

 the Black Oyster-Catcher [Hasmatopus fuliginosus] 

 and the clicking croak of the White-capped Noddy 

 [Anous leucocapillus], were unmistakable ; many of the 

 other notes were puzzling. A small flock of Lesser 

 Frigate-Birds [Tachypetes (Fregata) ariel] at dusk 

 each day came to the Point to roost in the Casuarinas. 

 We never failed to watch for the birds, which late in 



