300 ASTOLA, A SUMMER CRUISE 



all I got.* The space covered by the last batch was not more 

 than 6 ft. or 8 ft. square. 



It seems evident that the birds lay in groups to protect their 

 eggs from the ravages of Gulls and other birds. The eggs vary 

 so much in coloration and markings that I shall not attempt to 

 describe them in detail, but shall refer the reader to Mr. Hume's 

 description, IV., p. 493. I may mention, however, that of the 93 

 eggs now before me scarcely two are alike, and one beautiful 

 specimen has the ground color a sort of rich salmon fawn, with 

 markings exactly like Arabic characters. In fact so like that 

 some natives on board the Ambenoitch, when they saw the 

 eggs, said that it was covered with Arabic writing ; and, when 

 we told them that these birds always wrote their names on their 

 eggs in Arabic with their bills so as to know their own nests 

 when they returned from feeding, they believed us ! 



It is necessary to be very careful in blowing the eggs of 

 this species, as the colors run aud wash out if they are wetted 

 in the slightest degree. 



[Three splendid specimens, in full breeding plumage of this 

 species measured in the flesh by Captain Butler, gave the follow- 

 ing results, which I record for comparison with those given of 

 a large series from various localities, Vol. IV., p. 471 : — 



Sex. L. Ex. T. W. Ts. B. at front. B. from g. 



<? 215 465 812 1512 138 275 3 67 



? 210 46 8 37 1475 125 2 62 3 38 



? 20 75 46 762 1487 1*3 275 3 57 



Bill pale yellow; legs and feet black ; soles yellowish ; irides 

 deep brown. 



All have the lores and a broad frontal band; the neck all round 

 upper back and entire lower parts pure white ; crown, occiput and 

 a broad occipital crest which entirely covers the nape velvet black. 

 The rest of the upper parts very dark grey, darker and duskier 

 on the quills and on the lateral tail feathers towards their tips. 

 These laterals are white on the inner webs towards their bases, 

 and the exterior of all have the whole outer web much paler ; 

 in the male nearly pure white, but the exterior web of the next 

 preceding is the darkest in the tail. — A. O. H.] 



* Since writing the above, through the kindness of G. Nash, Esq., Telegraph Depart- 

 ment, who sent a canoe from Ormarra to Astola about the 19th June, I have received 

 another beautiful series of eggs of Sterna bergii. They were nearly all slightly 

 incubated, but not too far advanced to blow. The man who went to Astola for theso 

 eggs reported that only one species {Sterna bergii) was laying on the island, and 

 that the eggs were laid in groups, two or three in each nest, but never more. When 

 I visited the island I only found one egg in each nest ; but then they were all quite 

 fresh, so that the birds might have laid more if the nests had not been robbed. 



Strange to say Larus hemjprichii had not commenced laying, although the men 

 reported that they were just as numerous as when I visited the island the month 

 previous. 



E. A. B. 



