Birds of Christmas Island — King 
47 
bird on the island, occurring almost every- 
where near water. 
Arenaria interpres interpres (Linnaeus), Turn- 
stone. Small flocks of these birds were seen 
on three occasions at the ponds near the 
airport. 
Crocethia alba Pallos, Sanderling. One bird of 
this species was seen near London Village 
on the morning of November 7. 
Lams delawarensis Ord, Ring-billed Gull. An 
immature specimen of this species was 
sighted in the lagoon behind London Vil- 
lage on November 15. It was examined at 
close range twice that day and again the 
next two days, but not seen thereafter. This 
bird is certainly a rare visitor to the central 
Pacific and the author is not aware of any 
previous record of the species for the Line 
Island group. 
Conopoderas aequinoctialis aequinoctialis (Lath- 
am), Kokikokiko. Common in the higher 
and more dense -growths of Tournefortia. 
Old nests were found but none containing 
eggs or young. This species is flycatcher- 
like in appearance and is the only native 
land bird on the island. These birds stayed 
close to cover and were rarely seen in flight. 
Although the author was in the field every 
day during the 7-week stay and covered the 
island rather thoroughly several times, except 
for the long peninsula extending to the south- 
east, it is very probable that the above list 
is not complete for the period of our visit. 
For example, the wedge-tailed shearwater 
( Puffinus pacificus chlororhynchus Lesson), one 
of the most abundant of the Procellariidae 
in the mid-Pacific, is reported to nest on the 
island (Alexander, 1928; Murphy, 1951) but 
was not seen there during our visit. The gray- 
back tern ( Sterna lunata Peale) is supposed to 
occur throughout Oceania (Alexander, 1928) 
and has been observed on Christmas Island 
(Rougier, 1914). We believe we sighted this 
bird on a few occasions but were not able to 
identify it with certainty. The white-tailed 
tropic bird ( Phaethon Upturns dorotheae Math- 
ews) has been observed by the author on 
Fanning and Washington islands but not on 
Christmas, and according to Kirby (1925) it 
does not occur there. The author has also 
admired the brightly colored parakeets, Vint 
kuhlii (Vigors), on Fanning and Washington 
islands but did not find them on Christmas 
and probably they have never become estab- 
lished there (Tristram, 1883). The black- 
footed albatross ( Diomedea nigripes Audubon) 
is common in the temperate and subtropical 
North Pacific and has been observed by the 
author as far south as 7° N. latitude (on 
December 14, 1953). It may occasionally visit 
the Line Islands area, but as yet we have not 
encountered it there on any of the several 
POFI cruises from 1950 to 1954. 
Except for the golden plover, tattler, and 
curlew, there was a general lack of shore birds 
on the island during the period of our stay. 
Ducks also were scarce. About the middle of 
November, Mr. Phil Palmer of Fanning Is- 
land, which is about 150 miles northwest of 
Christmas, reported that a large number of 
ducks had just arrived on that island during 
a rainstorm. Apparently none of these birds 
reached Christmas. 
Some information of interest and value was 
obtained from Latia, the "old man” of the 
island. He reported that on Christmas Island 
the sooty terns have two nesting periods: a 
mid-winter period from December to March, 
and a mid-summer period from June to Au- 
gust. About equal numbers of birds take part 
in each nesting. The red-tailed tropic birds 
nest from June to January and the frigate 
birds from December to June. There are some 
shearwaters and petrels nesting throughout 
the year. The boobies have eggs and young 
over a good part of the year, particularly dur- 
ing the fall and winter months. Usually a few 
ducks show up each winter but never in great 
numbers. Mr. Richard Cooper, British Officer 
for the Line Islands, reported that the small 
land bird, called the "kokikokiko” by the 
Gilbertese, lays its eggs in the summer months. 
In summary, 22 species of birds were iden- 
