Oeder LAEIFOEMES.] 



[Family LAEIDtE. 



MICRANOUS LEUCOCAPILLUS, 



(BLACK NODDY.) 



Sterna leucocapilla, Gould, P. Z. S., 1845, p. 103. 



I Hx\ve received a large number of specimens of both sexes (which are exactly alike) from the 

 Kermadec Islands. 



The egg of this species is ovoid and white, with a zone of rich brown spots at the larger end, 

 the rest of the surface exhibiting very obscure or washed-out spots. 



Mr. Cheeseman writes : — 



I have received two skins and several eggs of this handsome species from Mr. Bell. He states that it is 

 tolerably common on the Kermadec Islands during the spring and summer months, but disappears at the 

 commencement of autumn. So far as he knows, it only breeds on Meyer Island. It makes a slightly hollowed 

 nest of seaweed mixed with leaves, which it connects to the branches of trees a short distance from the 

 ground. Usually it selects a closely branched Pisonia for this purpose, but the ngaio and pohutukawa are 

 also made use of. Only one egg is laid. Those sent to me measure T80 in. by 1'25. The ground-colour is 

 creamy-white, and on it are numerous rather small spots of reddish-brown. 



GYGIS ALBA. 



(WHITE TEEN.) 



Gygis alba (Sparrm.), Buller, Trans. N. Z. Inst., vol. xxy., p. 73. 



I eeceived several beautiful specimens of this snow-white bird from the Kermadec Islands, from 

 which locality Mr. Cheeseman had already added it to our list of species. 



Mr. Gould informs us that this lovely Tern ranges over the whole of the South-eastern coast 

 of Australia, from Moreton Bay to Cape York, and is also found on Norfolk Island, where it is 



said to breed. 



Mr. Bell, of the Kermadec Islands, states that this species lays its single egg high up on the 

 pohutukawa trees growing on the coast, sometimes on a horizontal branch not much thicker than 

 a man's wrist. The bird looks so closely after the egg as to keep it in position till it is hatched, 

 Althouoh its habit here is to nest on trees, Dr. Graff, the German collector, found it nesting in 

 natural hollows of the bare rock on one of the islands of the Phoenix group. 



