14 
minutes always returning to the same nest sight, and calling loudly each 
time it arrived on the nest sight. As far as I could tell no bird -which 
engaged in this behavior -was mated: 4 individuals were seen to do this. 
Hying with nesting material could serve as an advertising function 
also. • 
Hast relief was noted twice. Both times the relieving or incoming 
bird arrived in a very excited state calling very loudly: one bird 
landed on the back of its mate, one bird landed on the rim of the nest. 
In both cases the arriving bird sat on the egg the moment the sitting 
bird rose to preen, or change position. Throughout this procedure 
both birds called with the same reedy gurgle, but the arriving bird 
always more intensely. In one case the relief took 2 minutes, ones 
6 -T minutes. 
General Colony Behavior : 
At 1600 the general appearance of the colony was very quiet. 
By 1800 there were more birds active anti from then until 1850 the amount 
of noise and number of birds aloft was both high. Apparently this was 
due to 2 factors - l) Birds settling on their normal night roost, and 
2) Birds arriving in numbers from the sea. Once at 1831 I counted 62 
birds in the air, most on short roost to roost hops. 
The Ifcteapu Point Colony is divided into a number of roosts - 
several axe large trees in which 8-fiO birds roost, three are stands 
of trees which accomodate up to 135+ birds; and two roosts are on 
pockets of trees jutting out of the steep cliff-like walls of the area. 
