Zoological Societij. 451 



trod upon, or taken off by the hand ; and so thickly were these nests 

 placed, that it was no easy matter to avoid crushing either birds or 

 eggs at every step. In the middle of January I found the eggs very 

 nearly ready to hatch, and but few young birds ; in numerous in- 

 stances the bird would suffer me to take it by the wing and throve it 

 oft' the nest, but would immediately return, although I was still 

 standing close to the spot. There would be an overwhelming increase 

 of this species yearly but for one check which nature has provided 

 against it in the presence of a lizard, which is extremely abundant 

 about their breeding-places, and which finds an easy prey in this and 

 S. fitUginosa. I am satisfied, from constant observation, that on an 

 average, not more than one out of every twenty birds hatched ever 

 reach maturity, or live long enough to take wing ; besides this, 

 great numbers of the old birds are constantly killed : these lizards 

 do not eat the whole bird, but merely extract the brains and ver- 

 tebral marrow ; the remainder however is soon cleared off by the 

 Dermestes lardarius, which is here in amazing numbers, and gave 

 me a great deal of uneasiness and constant trouble to preserve my 

 collection from their repeated attacks. I did not observe the Noddy 

 inhabiting any other but South Island ; they do not appear to go far 

 out to sea to feed, finding an abundance of food immediately outside 

 the outer reef; nor did I in any one instance observe it feeding in 

 the smooth quiet water between the outer reef and the islands. Their 

 food consists of small fish, small moUusca, medusrc, cuttle-fish, &c. 

 Irides brown, bill and legs blackish grey ; flight somewhat heavy and 

 very irregular." 



" Anoiis ? (Lesser Noddy). — This,, although an allied species 



to the Noddy, is totally different in its habits of incubation, and is 

 even much more numerous than the former ; it builds a nest of sea- 

 weed on the branches of the mangrove, from four to ten feet above 

 the ground ; like the Noddy, however, it is truly gregarious, arranging 

 their nests as closely as possible ; the sea- weed is merely thrown 

 across the branch without any regard to form, till they have a heap 

 varying from two to four inches in height, the long pieces of sea- 

 weed in many instances hanging beneath the branch, which makes 

 it aj)pear a much larger structure : their nests and the branches 

 of the trees are completely white from their excrement, throwing 

 out a most disagreeable and sickly odour, which is perceptible at a 

 considerable distance. Although there are large groves of man- 

 groves on other islands, this bird only inhabits those of South 

 Island. I have seen many vast flocks of birds, but I must con- 

 fess I was not at all prepared for the surprise I experienced in wit- 

 nessing the amazing clouds (literally speaking) which these birds 

 present when congregating in the evening ; while they had their 

 young to feed, their departure and return with food during the day 

 in one direction had a most singular appearance. From their breed- 

 ing-place, across the smooth water to seaward, beyond the outer 

 reef, is a distance of about four miles, and this entire distance, in 

 their one and regular track, wore the appearance of one continuous 

 dark line, from their prodigious numbers : after the young were 



3HS 



