SOOTY TERN. 267 



instance, among thousands of the nests which were on the Bird Key, did 

 I find one more when the female was sitting close. I was desirous of as- 

 certaining whether the male and the female incubate alternately ; but this 

 I was unable to do, as the birds frequently left their eggs for half an 

 hour or even three quarters at a time, but rarely longer. This circum- 

 stance, together with the very slight difference in size and colour between 

 the sexes, was the cause of my failure. 



It was curious to observe their actions whenever a large party landed 

 on the island. All those not engaged in incubation would immediately 

 rise in the air and scream aloud ; those on the ground would then join them 

 as quickly as they could, and the whole forming a vast mass, with a broad 

 extended front, would as it were charge us, pass over for fifty yards or so, 

 then suddenly wheel round, and again renew their attack. This they would 

 repeat six or eight times in succession. When the sailors, at our desire, 

 all shouted as loud as they could, the phalanx would for an instant be- 

 come perfectly silent, as if to gather our meaning ; but the next moment, 

 like a huge wave breaking on the beach, it would rush forward with 

 deafening noise. 



When wounded and seized by the hand, this bird bites severely, and 

 utters a plaintive cry differing from its usual note, which is loud and 

 shrill, resembling the syllables oo-ee, oo-ee. Their nests are all scooped 

 near the roots or stems of the bushes, and under the shade of their boughs, 

 in many places within a few inches of each other. Thei-e is less difference 

 between their eggs, than is commonly seen in those of water birds, both 

 with respect to size and colouring. They generally measure two inches 

 and one-eighth, by one and a-half, have a smooth shell, with the ground 

 of a pale cream colour, sparingly marked with various tints of lightish 

 umber, and still lighter marks of purple, which appear as if within the 

 shell. The Lieutenant, N. Lacoste, Esq. informed me that shortly af- 

 ter the young are hatched, they ramble pell-mell over the island, to meet 

 their parents, and be fed by them ; that these birds have been known to 

 collect there for the purpose of breeding, since the oldest wreckers on 

 that coast can recollect ; and that they usually arrive in May, and re- 

 main until the beginning of August, when they retire southward to spend 

 the winter months. I could not however obtain a sufficiently accurate 

 description of the different states of plumage which they go through, so 

 as to enable me to describe them in the manner I should wish to do. All 



