196 Mr. R. Hall on Birds 
The bill of specimen A, while in the shell at tlie stage noted, 
was yermilion-red^ but of a paler shade than in the adult. 
It seems to be generally understood that this species is 
solitary while nesting ; but this is not always so^, because, 
immediately above highwater-mark on a sandy point, I found 
some thirteen pairs incubating. Most of the nests had two 
eggs for the complement, others had only one. The parents 
rose in a flock when approached and soared overhead^ uttering 
their guttural note repeatedly at long intervals. 
But though the birds on the West AVallabi Islands of the 
Houtman^s Abrolhos were nesting tojicther (20.10.99), others 
were leading a solitary life upon the smaller islets. On Square 
Island, of the Pelsart Group of the Abrolhos, 1 obser-. ed two 
eggs (17.10.99) upon the coral-sand, without any pretence of 
a nest bevond an indentation in the jiround. 
The members of the Wallabi Island colon v (western end) had 
gathered together a few twigs in a small number of cases ; and 
as these primitive nests were close to salt-bushes [iSaholacecE), 
1 take it that the twigs were from those bushes. So much 
were the bulk of these eggs like those of the Gull [Gab'ianus 
pucificus) that 1 should have been quite unable to identify 
them had the owners themselves not assisted me, and had 
it not been for the chicks within the e^gs having vermilion- 
red beaks. 
To identify the two eggs on the Pelsart Group was not so 
easy, because a pair of Terns and a pair of Gulls were present 
together. The Gulls made no noise, while the Terns did, 
occasionally passing high overhead, but shewing no signs of 
ownership of the nests. On taking up the eggs and leaving 
the beach in the boat's dingey, I was satisfied when I saw one 
*' Caspian '' descend upon the place Avhere these valuable eggs 
should have been. My fear that they would not be identified 
was thus satisfactorily dismissed. The note of the bird in 
the night reminded me of the smaller Penguins in southern 
waters. 
Nestling. — Bill coral-red, with a sulterminal black band; 
legs and feet brownish orange. Otherwise as described in tlie 
British Museum Catalogue. 
