58 
Hhe Queensland Naturalist 
November, 1932 
the Crested Terns ( Sterna bergii ) are nesting. 
This time the birds had selected their breeding place 
further round to the north-east of the island as I noted 
they were, four years ago. The habit of these pretty and 
lively birds is to lay their eggs on the top of the sand, 
right in the open and just above high water mark. Each 
bird seems to lay one egg only and close to one that has 
already been laid; 12 to 18 inches is allowed for each 
broody Tern. Tt is evident that by breeding in close for- 
mation the Sea Gulls have less chance to interfere. It 
was noted with interest that on one end of the rookery 
only eggs were found and no eggs were hatched ; in the 
middle part were some young ones and also eggs not 
hatched, while on the other end of the rookery all young 
chicks and no eggs were seen. Each bird seems to be 
obliged, when its turn comes to lay, to take a place along- 
side a sitting hen and not leave any unoccupied space. 
Many of the chicks were able to run and congregated on 
the rocky part of the beach at low water mark. Here they 
were cared for by the parent birds, the young chicks clam- 
ouring under the old bird’s wings for protection from the 
hot sun. When I walked among the rookery I noted un- 
protected little ones to fall over and struggle helpless in 
the blazing sun’s heat. Tt was remarkable that the 
stretch of beach where the terns were nesting was not dis- 
turbed by turtles that dig deep holes and scatter the sanrl 
in all directions when laying their eggs. On either end. of 
the rookery was much evidence of the turtles’ activities. 
The Crested Terns must have wavs and means to shy off 
the turtles near their nesting ground. It would be in- 
teresting to watch what is going on at night time, but then 
who would like to spend a night at Masthead Island with 
the possibility of a high sea running the next day or two, 
a?id to be unable to again get aboard a boat. 
On my previous visit to Masthead Island T noted 17 
Lesser Frigate Birds hovering over the Terns' nesting 
grounds, but strange to say the last time there were none 
I took a stroll through the island and found the inner 
part covered with a stunted Pisonia forest, and every tree 
was full of nests of the white-capped-Noddies. There must 
be millions of these birds on the larger islands. 
Masthead Island is riddled with Mutton Bird, also 
called Wedge-tailed Shearwater (Puff inns pacificus) bur- 
rows, as is the case everywhere on these islands where 
Pisonia trees grow ; the roots of the Pisonias keep the sand 
from falling in. The birds prefer to crawl two to. three 
feet along the burrows that are twelve to eighteen inches 
deep in the ground and hatch their young in the darkness. 
It is on rare occasions that a nesting bird can be seen 
