152 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XIII. 
All round me were numerous nests of the Reef Herons, some in the hollows 
and crevices of the rocks and some among the branches of the trees in which 
I lay hid. Most of the nests contained two or three fresh eggs, the birds 
having only just commenced to lay. Fifteen yards in front of me were a few 
scattered eggs of the terns which were wheeling in scores overhead, Fora 
few minutes some of these terns having seen me get into my hiding place 
hovered over me ‘mobbing’ me vociferously ; then, as the boat left the island 
and I remained perfectly still, the startled birds settled down again ; the terns 
descended to their eggs, and the Herons came back from the reef and settled 
fearlessly about their nests on the rocks and branches within a few feet of me 
One of the white birds, usually so shy, perched so close to me that I could 
almost have touched it with a stick, and remained during the whole hour that 
I lay concealed, The Reef Herons seemed very apathetic, sitting quite motion- 
less, and now and again yawning sleepily. One or two of the laziest squatted 
down on their tarsi—not a graceful attitude! Although they seemed to keep 
a sharp look-out seaward, they were quite unsuspicious of my presence in their 
midst ; once or twice I whistled sharply, but though they turned and stared 
towards me, they seemed quite unable to make me out as long as I remained 
motionless. I noticed some of them breaking off the green twigs. of the 
Pemphis acidula to line their nests with. 
The terns seemed rather restless sitters ; there were seven of Sterna melan- 
auchen on their eggs close to me, and each of them would rise every ten 
minutes or so, wheel round and perhaps catch a small fish, and then return to 
its egg. They sat with the head very upright and the wings drooped low, 
These Black-naped Terns eggs were laid on the rock with a few small fragments 
of coral carefully collected under each; the eggs were in each case single, and 
placed some yards apart from each other, 
A little further off a small colony of Sterna dougalli were sitting ; their eggs 
differing from those of S, melanauchen in their olive instead of stone-grey 
_ ground-colour, and also in each case single, being laid in very close company 
ou a patch of sand which thinly overlaid the rock, A large red hermit crab 
was walking off with one partly sucked egg, but whether he made the hole 
in it originally 1 can’t say. For the sake of the terns it is to be hoped not, as 
the whole island was crawling with hermit crabs of every size and colour in 
tens of thousands, 
The birds were only commencing to lay when I visited the island ; I pro- 
cured about a dozen eggs of each of the terns and as many as I wanted of 
those of the Reef Herons. There seemed to be about five and twenty pairs 
of these latter breeding on the island, only one pair of white birds among 
them. Quite a hundred and fifty pairs of terns were about the island, but 
only a small proportion of these were S. dougalli. 
I never passed a pleasanter hour watching bird life: with a pair of binoculars 
I could examine every bird on the islet as well as if it had been in my hands, 
