I wonder how much you have done on the Noddies - or "• 
contemplate doing. I have? got an opportunity ( still confidential, 
f going to Ascension where I gather both A. mlnutue end A.stolidue 
live, as well as 5 . fusee t a and G-.ygis . Do you think one could 
get anything out of these species in a year or less which 
you haven't yet nicked, up ? Or do you plan to study one 
or more of these species in more detail ? I may say that I 
am not terribly keen on this Ascension trio so that I aha n ' t 
be upset if you are busy with akX these species, but I would 
like to know what your plans are. 
None of the Dutbh people is wording on the G-ull-bfiilledT 
so far as I know . There is a man in the Carmargue, name of 
who has been looking at something of their 
behaviour, mainly I think the way the young beg for food. 
He seems rather cranky, one of Portrarnn's people, and I don't 
think you will overlap much with him. Should you wish to get 
in touch with him his address is: 
The Skimmer sounds a delightful vreature. Perhaps 
I will one day heap about it too. Have you by the way 
sorted out the relation between the terns Erect and the gulls’Anx. 
tforight end managed to tidy away the Little Gull's Vertical ? 
Your remarks about recognising' the Long. Gall were 
exactly what I wanted. If the Fittiwake Call and Moan of 
the Hi t tiwake pair off with Long Calls and "Muffled” Calls 
in the other species, you have se en I am convinced of their 
rela tionship. 
The terns all se m to have one xxtxx&xiyx elborate 
cal T i n. their repertoire which is ysed in various male-advertise- 
ment oorcwivk s , as well as on other occasions. Judging from 
form alone one cannot see any relationship between this call 
ib various species but I wonder if it may not have some com? on 
origin axxsxtixlxxi;x±iXKSiy nevertheless. It is noteworthy 
that al though fc the i ertoire of Command Arctic is so similar, 
this call, the chief means I suppose by which an unmated male 
attracts a mate, is more different than any other, c.f. song 
of song-birds. I suppose the same kind of divergence would 
be expected in the Long Call if it also the "song". 
Your analysis of the ontogeny of the various calls of 
gulls looks extremely useful and when one knows more of the 
development of terns one may perhaps link ud the xksmxx calls 
of the two groups using this as an additional argument. Here 
again I suspect you will be far ahead of me in homologising 
the voices of terns and gulls since your trips this year. 
a 
I don t remataber if I wrote you before that I think 
the gakkering of* Sandwich, Roseate end Caspian Tern is 
homologous with the 
