NODDY TERN. Sr? 



differs from other species, the young of which keep by themselves until 

 spring. 



At the approach of a boat, the Noddies never flew off their island, in 

 the manner of the Sooty Terns. They appeared to go farther out to sea 

 than those birds, in search of their food, which consists of fishes mostly 

 caught amid the floating sea-weeds, these Terns seizing them, not by plung- 

 ing perpendicularly downwards, as other species do, but by skimming 

 close over the surface in the manner of Gulls, and also by alighting and 

 swimming round the edges of the weeds. This I had abundant opportuni- 

 ties of seeing while on the Gulf of Mexico. 



The flight of this bird greatly resembles that of the Night Hawk 

 when passing over meadows or rivers. When about to alight on the 

 water, the Noddy keeps its wings extended upwards, and touches it first 

 with its feet. It swims with considerable buoyancy and grace, and at 

 times immerses its head to seize on a fish. It does not see well by night, 

 and it is perhaps for this reason that it frequently alights on the spars of 

 vessels, where it sleeps so sound that the seamen often catch them. When 

 seized in the hand, it utters a rough cry, not unlike that of a young 

 American Crow taken from the nest. On such occasions, it does not dis- 

 gorge its food, like the Cayenne Tern and other species, although it bites 

 severely, with quickly repeated movements of the bill, which, on missing 

 the object aimed at, snaps like that of our larger Fly-catchers. Some 

 which I kept several days, refused all kinds of food, became dull and 

 languid, and at length died. 



While hovering over us near their nests, these birds emitted a low 

 querulous murmur, and, if unmolested, would attempt to alight on our 

 heads. After a few visits, however, they became rather more careful of 

 themselves, although the sitting birds often suffered us to put a hat over 

 them. Like the Sooty Tern, this species incubates both day and night. 

 The differences exhibited by Terns with respect to their mode of nestling 

 and incubation, are great, even in the same neighbourhood, and under the 

 same degree of atmospheric temperature. This species breeds on bushes 

 or low trees, placing several nests on the same bush, or in fact as many 

 as it will hold. The Sterna fuliginosa scoops out a shght hollow in the 

 sand, under the bushes, without forming any nest, and incubates closely 

 like the former. The Sandwich, the Cayenne, and the Roseate Terns, 

 drop their eggs on the sand or the bare rock, and seldom sit upon them 

 until evening, or during cloudy or rainy weather. The Cayenne, Sooty, 



