July, 1904 I 
THE CONDOR 
93 
ward or at the sky, as if on the lookout for winged marauders. Frequently they 
utter a hoarse, strident cry. When the old birds exchange places, which is happen- 
ing in figures 2 and 6, one slips off the nestling and the other immediately takes 
its place. The young birds when bereft of protection for a moment, assume very 
outlandish postures, as shown in Fig. 2. The bird to the right is strutting off with 
the characteristic ambling swagger. He bit the finger off the photographer’s glove 
a moment later — amiable fellow! In this photograph the tolipalmate feet show ad- 
mirably. Note also the absence of nostrils. 
The red-footed booby, Sitla piscator, unlike the foregoing species, always 
builds in bushes, .so far as my experience goes, never on the ground. At Laysan 
it is found in colonies of scattered individuals on the inner slopes of the island. 
The nest is very simple, scarcely more than a slightly hollowed platform composed 
7. RED-FOOTED BOOBY. SULA PISCATOR. ON NEST 
\V. K. F. 
of twigs and sticks, placed on the top of bushes, which cover large areas on the is- 
land. I'he birds place a few fresh leaves about the newly laid eggs. 'I'lie old birds 
take turns in brooding, and occasionally one is seen perched on the side of the 
nest while the other is sitting. W’henever we approached a nest to take a photo- 
graph, the occupant would ruffle its feathers as shown in the frontispiece, and if 
we came too near would take a chance poke at us with its beak, which much re- 
sembles an animated marlin spike. The old birds are very handsome, despite their 
vicious yellow eyes, as the white plumage is set off by bright blue skin about the 
bill, and by coral-red feet. 
Most of the nests contained a single white egg, and we saw only a few downy 
white young, recently hatched. 
We did not observe this species feeding its young, but one old bird, which was 
