308 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



50 to 100 Individuals. All during the day groups of noddies and sooties may 

 be seen at work., As! the minnows eease to jumpj above the surface of. the 

 water, the group disbands and scatters in every direction. An instant later, 

 as an attack is made upon the minnows in some other locality, the birds 

 immediately rush there and renew their feeding. • ' ; 



He also discovered that most of their fishing is done within 9 or 

 10 knots of the island, and that they seldom venture more than 15 

 knots away from it. Mr. B. S. Bowdish (1902) found in the stomach 

 of a noddy " an entire flying fish about 4 inches long and remains 

 of others. 



Behavior.— Audubon (1840) writes of the flight of the noddy; 



The flight o% this bird greatly resembles, that of the nighthawk when pass- 

 ing over meadows. o$ rivers. When about to alight on the water the noddy 

 keeps r its wings extended upward and touches it first with its feet . It swims 

 with considerable buoyancy arid grace, and at times immerses its head to seize 

 on a fishv It does not see well by night, arid it is perhaps for this 'reason that 

 it frequently alights on the spars of vessels, where it sleeps so soundly that the 

 seamen often catch them. 



Dr. Frank M. Chapman (1908) gives a different impression of it. 

 He says : 



As the only tern with a rounded, instead of forked tail, the noddy might be 

 expected to differ in flight from other members of its family. In fact, it sug- 

 gested, when in the air, a light-bodied, long-winged, long-tailed pigeon. They 

 fly rapidly, never hovering with the sooties, and they were often, seen pursuing 

 each other high in the air in what were doubtless mating flights. 



Professor Watson's (1908) interesting experiments show that the 

 noddy is a swift and powerful flier, with strong powers of orienta- 

 tion. Birds which he transported and liberated at Key West, Cuba, 

 and even Cape Hatteras returned directly and promptly to their 

 breeding grounds in the Dry Tortugas. He says that in flying at 

 night they " break their graceful flight into short, ungraceful, and 

 ill-directed choppy swoops, very similar to the way the nighthawk 

 breaks its flight when flying after dark:" 



In spite of the statement of some other writers to the contrary, 

 Professor Watson (1908) says that these "birds never swim nor 

 dive * * *. During my three months' stay I never saw one of 

 these birds in the water, except by accident, and then the bird, if 

 the tide is against it, can never reach the shore, so poorly does it 

 swim." 



Mr. Bowdish (1902) says that " the common note resembles the 

 clamor of young crows, and is often heard, more or less, through- 

 out the night." There has been so little published on this subject 

 that I infer that the vocal performances of this species are not 

 elaborate. 



