THE BEHAVIOR OF NODDY AND SOOTY TERNS. 



By John B. Watson. 



INTRODUCTION. 



During the spring of 1907, on thie invitation of Prof. Alfred G. Mayer, 

 Director of the Marine Biological Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of 

 Washington, I spent three months upon Bird Key, a small island belonging 

 to the Dry Tortugas group.^ The specific object of my stay was to observe 

 as far as possible the details of the lives of the noddy terns {Anoiis stolidus) 

 and the sooty terns {Sterna fuliginosa) during their nesting season on 

 that island. 



My thanks are due first of all to Professor Mayer for his unfailing 

 kindness in liberally supplying my needs upon the island. Bird Key is unin- 

 habited and is some distance from the key upon which the Biological Station 

 is located. Since I lived upon the island, it was necessary to bring all sup- 

 plies and apparatus from the laboratory. During this period I was supplied 

 with a motor-boat and a servant. My thanks are likewise due to the Audu- 

 bon Society, which not only rendered me financial assistance for acting as 

 warden of the island, but also allowed me complete control of the birds. 

 On an island as small as Bird Key it would have been difficult to have car- 

 ried on the work if my authority had been divided with that of a regular 

 warden. 



Mr. Carl Kellner spent many trying hours with me in attempting to 

 photograph the birds in action. Owing to the peculiarities of the climate 

 and to the extreme rapidity of the characteristic movements of the birds, 

 we had scant success in our eiTorts. Our interest was not so much in 

 obtaining good photographs of the birds, but rather centered around the 

 portrayal of their activities. Many hundreds of photographs were taken, 

 but many of the most interesting exposures, which were often made after 

 hours of waiting, failed to develop properly for one reason or another. 



As will be seen by reading the present report, the nature of all the work 

 has been preliminary. Indeed, if I were convinced either that I myself or 

 some one else could immediately take up the work, I should cheerfully delay 

 publication until a fuller account of the activities of the birds could be given. 

 But since the immediate continuation of the work is not assured, and since 



' In this connection I wish to thank Prof. James R. Angell for arranging for me 

 a three months' leave of absence from the University of Chicago, with which institu- 

 tion I was connected at the time the present research was made. 



189 



