212 



BAHAMA BIRD-LIFE 



Picked up bits of sticks 



being robbed of their food by the Man-o '-War Birds, which 

 at times attacked them as they approached the Cay and 

 forced them to disgorge. 



Sitting or brooding birds spend the night upon the nest 



with their mate stand- 

 ing at their side, but the 

 close resemblance of the 

 sexes rendered it im- 

 possible to distinguish 

 them at this time. When 

 the young is too large 

 to be brooded, it passes 

 the night on the ground 

 between the two par- 

 ents who stand on either 

 side, all three with their 

 heads tucked under 

 their scapulars. 

 When perched on rocks about the border of the island, 

 Boobies showed a decided fear of man and generally flew 

 before one had approached to within thirty yards of them ; 

 but when on their nests they were conspicuously tame, the 

 degree of tameness being related to the advance of the nest- 

 ing season. A bird with newly hatched young would not, as 

 a rule, leave the nest unless actually forced to do so, and it 

 would strike at one so viciously that it was well not to ven- 

 ture within its reach. This was the extreme development 

 of parental instinct which now gradually diminished as the 

 young increased in size. Evidently as a result of excitement 

 caused by our presence, the birds which remained to defend 

 their young threatened us with their bills, picked up bits of 

 sticks or grasses, only to drop them and pick them up again, 

 and even struck at their own young in a confused and aim- 

 less manner. The young also had this habit. The report of 

 a gun occasioned but little alarm among the Boobies, some 



