536 LARHLE. 



of a lizard, which is extremely abundant about their breed- 

 ing-places, and which finds an easy prey in this and S. 

 fuliginosa. 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 vertebral 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 mollusca, medusae, cuttle- 

 fish, &c." 



In the adult bird the bill is black, from the base of the 

 bill to the eye is also black ; irides brown ; the forehead 

 and crown buff-colour ; occiput smoke-grey ; the whole of 

 the body above and below and all the wing-coverts dark 

 chocolate-brown ; primaries and tail-feathers brownish- 

 black ; legs, toes, membranes and claws black. The 

 whole length of the specimen here figured and described 

 fourteen inches and a half to the end of the tail, which is 

 graduated, the middle pair of feathers being the longest ; 

 the wing, from the carpal joint to the end of the first quill- 

 feather ten inches and a half. 



An egg in my own collection, and one from Australia, 

 given me by Mr. Gould, agree exactly with Mr. Audubon's 

 description both in measurements and markings. 



