I'HK OOLOGIST. 



119 



not speak of now. The identification 

 is hazy as yet. Later I may be able to 

 add a note relative to it. 



The Laughing Gull I noted singly and 

 in twos and threes lait no evidence of 

 their breeding here. What I regnrded 

 as Ptrange was that I did not see a sin- 

 gle Pelican. 



The Sooty Tern did the best for me 

 in the way of eggs and the majority of 

 these were badly incubated. I collect- 

 ed thirty-four sets of one each and 

 could have taken many more. 



I also collected one recently batched 

 young, and at least one pair of birds in 

 the ledges over our camp were feeding 

 young apparently full grown. The 

 nesting sites were ledges or shelves in 

 the face of the rocky walls, ranging be- 

 tween ten and forty feet above the 

 beach. Some were narrow and others 

 wide. In one case the egg was laid un- 

 derneath a cactus plant on top of the 

 rocks. In some instances there seemed 

 to be a slight gathering of rock chips 

 and small pebbles about the eggs in the 

 form of a ring, and in a very few one 

 or two bits of twigs were added, but 

 otherwise there was no nesting mater- 

 ial and often the egg laid on the bare 

 rock. In coloration the series that I 

 took show considerable variation, the 

 ground tint ranging from whitish 

 through pinkish, to decided buffy tint, 

 and the markings, chestnut and laven- 

 der shell marks, ranging from few scat- 

 tered dots to quite thickly marked, 

 some specimens having well defined 

 wreaths of small dots about the large 

 end and one a single blotch, besides a 

 few other marks, which measures 0.95 

 in diameter. I give below measure- 

 ments of extremes and of eggs selected 

 at random: 2.16x1.37, 3.11x1.35, 3 02x 

 1.41, 3.07x1.43, 3.06x1.38, 1.99x1.46, 3.08 

 xl.49. 



The Noddy Tern sits closely (as may 

 be instanced by my native reaching ov- 

 er the edge of a ledge and catching my 

 first one in his hand), and when driven 



from their egg quickly return, if per- 

 mitted. Occasionally one bird is found 

 nesting on some isolated ledge but usu- 

 ally at least three or four in close prox- 

 imity and sometimes sevt n or eight, 

 according in the facilith « cf the site. 

 When disturbed they dart frrm the 

 ledge and close together they dart swal- 

 low-like .nbout the intruder^ head ut- 

 tering angry cries. Their notes at this 

 time and while feeding young are 

 scarcely <!i-tinguishHble from the hun- 

 gry mutterings of young crows. 



The only other bird of which I sfcur- 

 ed eggs was the Bridled Tern [Sterna 

 ancethetu^) These birds are nothing 

 like as common as the Noddy. 



I think it doubtful if tifty pairs of 

 birds were breeding on the entire is- 

 land. They are also, I should jidge, 

 later in their breeding, the only three 

 nesting sites which I found occupied 

 containing a single egg ia which incu- 

 bation was only just commenced. Al- 

 so I noted birds showing strong anxiety 

 regarding certain nooks under the 

 rocks, quite similiar to those where 

 eggs were found, and I have no doubt 

 that these were nesting sites selected 

 but not yet laid in. In one such case 

 the native caught the male bird on the 

 nest, or at least in the nook 



The lirst egg was found in a slightly 

 hollowed spot on a fiat rock and arched 

 over by a small rock. No pretense at 

 nesting material whatever. The second 

 was in a sort of pocket in the face of 

 the cliff at about 40 feet above beach. 

 The third was under an overhanging 

 rock about ten feet above beach. From 

 the small amount of data I should judge 

 that the birds almost always select 

 rather hidden and covered sites and 

 from this fact and the further one that 

 they do not sit nearly so close as the 

 Noddy, their nests are not so easily 

 found, the Noddy Tern being usually 

 easily seen in its nesting ledge, whereas 

 the Bridled leaves its nesting site with a 

 dash often before you see it. 



