^°'iQi^ ] I RED ALE, Bird Life on the Keymadec Islands. Q 



month all the youngs had also gone. A couple of birds were 

 heard on the 2nd of May; from the 8th to the 14th many 

 birds were heard passing the island in the evening, and it was 

 surmised that these might be birds bred on the southern islands 

 of the group passing north. From the latter date until the 31st 

 July we heard nothing whatever of these birds. Then an odd 

 bird was heard calling at night ; succeeding nights they were 

 heard in increasing numbers. None were seen until the 20th of 

 August, when a large flock was noted at dusk, away out over 

 the bay. Every evening after this they were seen, and shortly 

 afterwards settled at night on the beach, flying away just before 

 sunrise and not returning until evening again. On the i8th Sep- 

 tember they were for the first time noted flying over the bay all 

 day, and by the end of that month they circled above their 

 proposed nesting sites all through the day. This continued 

 throughout October, until on the last day they remained on the 

 ground during the day. I expected they would lay in a day or 

 two, but on the 2nd November rain set in, and every bird 

 departed, and for two days whilst the rain persisted tlie bay was 

 deserted. The third day a few birds returned, and then the 

 bulk came back, but there never seemed to be the same numbers 

 as before the wet weather. The first eggs were seen on the 9th 

 November, and the next morning still only a very few. On the 

 morning of the nth a couple of hundred were noted, and in the 

 afternoon several hundred were collected by the sailors for food. 

 Two days later, on Curtis Island, eggs were very abundant. 

 Though the White Tern {Gygis alba, Sparrm.) breeds on Sunday 

 Island I was unable to note anything regarding its habits while 

 engaged in incubation. The first birds to arrive in the spring 

 came early in October, but no eggs had been found when we 

 had to leave on the i ith November. Only a iew pairs breed on 

 the island, chiefly on the south coast. Few of the other two 

 species of Noddies bred, and they principally resorted to Meyer 

 Island. 



White-capped Noddy {Micranoiis leucocapilhis) did not breed 

 on the main island at all, Meyer Island and one of the other 

 islets being their only stations. On 29th February the Meyer 

 Island colony was visited, and a few fully-feathered young 

 were noted sitting in their hu^e nests in the short trees. No 

 other notes relating to the breeding habits of this bird were 

 obtained. 



Grey Noddy {Proce/sterna cifierea) bred very sparingly at 

 each end of Denham Bay, but the nesting places were almost 

 inaccessible. As far as was observed, they make no pretence at 

 a nest, simply laying their eggs on a bare crevice of a rock. 

 On 29th February many flying young were observed on Meyer 

 Island, where a fair-sized colony bred. The birds were there 

 observed in fair numbers on 3rd August, but no eggs were 



