NODDY. 233 



breed on the Roca Islands and various parts of the coast of 

 Brazil and Cayenne. ^ According to the accounts of voyagers, 

 they lay vast numbers of eggs on certain rocky isles contiguous 

 to St. Helena, and the eggs are there accounted a delicate 

 food. Some have imagined that the appearance of the Noddy 

 at sea indicates the proximity of land ; but, in the manner of the 

 Common Tern, these birds adventure out to sea, and like the 

 mariner himself, the shelter of whose friendly vessel they seek, 

 they often voyage at random for several days at a time, com- 

 mitting themselves to the mercy of the boundless ocean ; and 

 having at certain seasons no predilection for a peculiar climate, 

 the roving flocks or stragglers find a home on every coast. 



This Tern never comes up the Atlantic coast beyond the South- 

 ern States, but is common around Florida and on the Gulf shores. 



