124 THE NODDY TERN. 



many of them were repairing and augmenting nests that had remained 

 through the winter, while others were employed in constructing new ones, 

 and some were already sitting on their eggs. In a great many instances, the 

 repaired nests formed masses nearly two feet in height, and yet all of them 

 had only a slight hollow for the eggs, broken shells of which were found 

 among the entire ones, as if they had been purposely placed there. The 

 birds did not discontinue their labours, although there were nine or ten of us 

 walking among the bushes, and when we had gone a few yards into the 

 thicket, thousands of them flew quite low over us, some at times coming so 

 close as to enable us to catch a few of them with the hand. On one side 

 might be seen a Noddy carrying a stick in its bill, or a bird picking up 

 something from the ground to add to its nest; on the other several were 

 seen sitting on their eggs unconscious of danger, while their mates brought 

 them food. The greater part rose on wing as we advanced, but re-alighted 

 as soon as we had passed. The bushes were rarely taller than ourselves, so 

 that we could easily see the eggs in the nests. This was quite a new sight 

 to me, and not less pleasing than unexpected. 



The Noddy, like most other species of Terns, lays three eggs, which 

 average two inches in length, by an inch and three-eighths in breadth, and 

 are of a reddish-yellow colour, spotted and patched with dull red and faint 

 purple. They afford excellent eating, and our sailors seldom failed to collect 

 bucketsful of them daily during our stay at the Tortugas. The wreckers, 

 assured me that the young birds remain along with the old through the 

 winter, in which respect the Noddy, if this account be correct, differs from 

 other species, the young of which keep by themselves until spring. 



At the approach of a boat, the Noddies never flew off their island, in the 

 manner of the Sooty Terns. They appeared to go farther out to sea than 

 those birds, in search of their food, which consists of fishes mostly caught 

 amid the floating sea-weeds, these Terns seizing them, not by plunging 

 perpendicularly downwards, as other species do, but by skimming close over 

 the surface in the manner of Gulls, and also by alighting and swimming 

 round the edges of the weeds. This I had abundant opportunities of seeing 

 while on the Gulf of Mexico. 



The flight of this bird greatly resembles that of the Night Hawk when 

 passing over meadows or rivers. When about to alight on the water, the 

 Noddy keeps its wings extended upwards, and touches it first with its feet. 

 It swims with considerable buoyancy and grace, and at times immerses its 

 head to seize on a fish. It does not see well by night, and it is perhaps for 

 this reason that it frequently alights on the spars of vessels, where it sleeps 

 so sound that the seamen often catch them. When seized in the hand, it 

 utters a rough cry, not unlike that of a young American Crow taken from 



