BREEDING PLACES OF SEA BIRDS. 171 



which were big enough to run about freely and to take to the water 

 upon our nearer approach. Upon walking up the steeply shelving 

 sand beach we beheld a wonderful sight. Enormous numbers of sooty 

 terns, Sterna fuscata Linnajus, were standing on the sand in great 

 groups, containing fully adult birds in breeding plumage, immature 

 birds which were dark brown or black with some white-spotted feathers, 

 young still partially in the down but with wings feathered out, and 

 freshly hatched chicks colored so like the sand about them that when 

 they crouched flat upon it, with outstretched necks and extended wings, 

 they disappeared from view before one's very eyes. Eggs were scattered 

 around in large numbers, but many of them were bad ones which had 

 failed to hatch. Large solemn-looking chicks of the brown booby, 

 still in the down, but apparently heavier than their parents, were 

 sitting about in considerable numbers. There were also numerous breed- 

 ing groups of northern Bergius' terns, with small chicks and eggs, in 

 addition to the groups previously refen-ed to which contaiiled young 

 big enough to run about actively. 



Immediately after landing we observed several npddy terns, Anous 

 stolidus (Linnseus). A shot fired at one of these caused thousands 

 upon thousands of birds to take wing. We worked actively until dark, 

 taking photographs and securing specimens of the several species of 

 birds in different plumages, and then returned to the ship heavily ladened 

 with valuable ornithological spoils. 



I could not make up my mind to leave the reef without taking ad- 

 ditional photographs. The light at the time of our arrival was verj' 

 . weak and it had faded rapidly so that I feared that many of the plates 

 which we had exposed would be failures. Therefore, we stood on and 

 off through the night. The current drifted us some four miles to the 

 northward but we picked up the reef from the masthead at 5.30 the 

 following morning. 



On the afternoon of our arrival the birds had been kept in constant 

 motion by the sailors who were running about in search of turtles' 

 eggs, and by other members of our party who were looking in vain for 

 insects or plants. 



Our two ornithological collectors remained on board to care for the 

 material obtained the previous da}', and I limited the landing party to 

 the Director of the Bureau of Science, one Filipino collector, two sailors, 

 and myself. 



With difficulty the sailors were convinced that it was to their interest 

 to sit down and keep still. I then got an opportimity to obtain some 

 very interesting photographs. There were a few red-legged boobies 

 on the reef, but so far as I could see they were not breeding. A number 

 of brown boobies had deposited their eggs in hollows in the sand, as 

 there was no nesting material available on the island, except a little 



