342 



VERTKBllATA. 



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TEE ARCTIC TEEN. 



The Noddy, S. stolida, inliabits the tropical seas, and is occasionally seen on the coasts of the 

 United States, and also as far north as the waters of England. Audubon gives the following 

 pleasant account of it : " About the beginning of May the noddies collect from all parts of the Gulf 

 of Mexico and the coasts of Florida, for the purpose of returning to their breeding places on one of 

 the Tortngas called Noddy Rug. These birds form regular nests of twigs and dry grass, which 

 thev place on the bushes or low trees, but never on the ground. On visiting their island on the 

 11th May, 1832, I was surprised to see that many of them were repairing and augmenting nests 

 that had remained through the winter, while others were employed in constructing new ones, and 

 some were already sitting on their eggs. In a great many instances the repaired nests formed 

 masses nearly two feet in height,, and yet all of them had only a slight hollow for the eggs, broken 

 shells of which were found among the entire ones, as if they had been purposely placed there. 

 The birds did not discontinue their labors, although there were nine or ten of us walking among 

 the bushes; and when we bad gone a few yards into the thicket, thousands of them flew quite 

 low over us, some at times coming so close as to enable us to catch a few of them with the hand. 

 On one side might be seen a noddy carrying a stick in its bill, or a bird picking up something 

 from the ground to add to its nest ; on the other, several were seen sitting on their eggs uncon- 

 scious of danger, while their mates brought them food. The greater part rose on the wing as we 

 advanced, but realighted as soon as we had passed. The bushes were rarely taller than ourselves, 

 so that we could easily see the eggs in the nests. This was quite a new sight to me, and not less 

 pleasing than unexpected. 



" The noddy, like most other species of Tern, lays three eggs, which average two inches in 

 length by an inch and three-eighths in breadth, and are of a reddish-yellow color, spotted and 

 patched with dull red and faint purple. They afford excellent eating, and our sailors seldom failed 

 to collect bucketfuls daily, during our stay at the Tortugas. The wreckers assured me that the 

 young birds remain with the old ones through the winter, in which respect the noddy, if this ac- 

 count be correct, differs from other species, the young of which keep by themselves till spring. 

 At the approach of a boat the noddies never flew off their island, in the manner of the Sooty 

 Terns. They appeared to go further out to sea than those birds, in search of their food, Avhich 

 consists of fishes mostly caught amid the floating sea-weeds, these Terns seizing them, not by 

 plunging perpendicularly downward, as other species do, but bv skimming close over the surface 

 in the manner of gulls, and also bv aliuhtinir and swimmino- round the edcfes of the weeds. This 

 I had abundant opportunities of seeing while on the Gulf of Mexico. The flight of this bird 

 greatly resembles that of the night-hawk when passing over meadows and rivers. When about 

 to alight on the water, the noddy keeps its wings extended upward, and touches it first with its 

 feet. It swims with considerable buoyancy and grace, and at times immerses its head to seize on 

 a fish. It does not see well by night, and it is for this reason that it frequently alights on the 



