172 WORCESTER. 



decayed wood laboriously torn from the few tree trunks which had 

 drifted on to reef. One enterprising female had actually dug out 

 enough punk to make a hollow in a log and had deposited her two eggs 

 therein. 



Although the number of eggs laid by one bird seemed to be quite, 

 uniformly two, in only one instance did I see- a browxi booby caring 

 for more than one young one. Photographs of the boobies could be 

 taken at any desired distance. 



I found it possible to walk directly among the sooty terns. Although 

 they at first flew away from my immediate vicinity they promptly 

 returned again. The nesting grou^Ds of the northern Bergius's terns 

 proved much more difficult to approach, but by the exercise of a little 

 care and patience I was able to get quite satisfactory photogi-aphs of 

 one such group. I had never previously Icnown that the birds of this 

 species had the power of erecting the black feathers of the head so 

 as to form conspicuous crests. One of the photographs reproduced 

 (Plate V, figure 1) shows clearly that this is the case. Shortly before 

 10 o'clock a strong breeze s^jrang up from the southwest. Immediately 

 every sooty tern on the island, except a few of the downy chicks, 

 faced the wind which proved to be the foremnner of _ a heavy shower. 

 AYlien the rain was almost upon us Doctor Freer fired at a frigate bird. 

 Thousands of terns took wing but instead of circling widely as they had 

 previously done when alarmed, held themselves stationary in the air, 

 hovering for a moment over their eggs and young, but almost im- 

 mediately dropping upon them again. After the rain began to fall the 

 birds which were incubating eggs refused to leave them until actually 

 pushed away, jDecking savagely at the hands of intruders. 



I greatly regretted the coming of this shower as I wished to secure 

 more photographs showing the habits of the big booby chicks. Wlren I 

 first landed I saw a number of chicks stretched out flat on the sand 

 with wings extended and heads doubled back under their necks. I thought 

 at first that they were dead but found upon touching them that they were 

 very much alive. I then jumped to the conclusion that they were 

 trying to hide, as did the little terns, but after further observation con- 

 vinced myself that they were merely sleeping. In each instance when I 

 attempted to turn the camera on them at short range they woke up and 

 hopped awkwardly away. 



As there was no sheltering vegetation of any kind the heat upon the 

 reef became intense as soon as the sun got well up. The booby chicks 

 promptly took advantage of the shadows cast by older birds, often coming 

 up from behind and flattening themselves on the sand with their heads 

 stretched under the tails, or even between .the legs, of their mothers. 



As it was obviously unsafe to remain on the reeef a moment after the' 

 sea began to rise, we reluctantly turned our backs on one of the most 



