EXTRACTIONS FROM THE UNPUBLISHED SPECIES ACCOUNTS OF A. WETMORE 
ANOUS STOLIDUS PILEAT US 
eggs. 
May IS , 19^3 . A bird taken at night while incubating an egg proved to be a 
male. Testes o size of circle. The birds are more nocturnal than other 
terns and I hear them calling continually through the night as they pass and 
repass. These birds often gather while the Frigate-birds are harrying the 
Shearwaters and apparently hang about to pick up discarded food. Large bands 
rest at tide mark in the beaches. 
May 19 j 1225- About 500 pairs here. The birds are nesting mainly in scattered 
colonies on the inner basin and along the eastern shore. The nesting sites 
chosen are usually 12 to 30 feet apart in little depressions often at the mouths 
of old shearwater holes. Here the male rests or rises to circle gracefully 
through the air with his mate the two wheeling and turning in close synchronism. 
The nests depressions•are filled with a varied collection of small bones and 
feathers in lieu of other nesting material. Most are empty but a few contain 
one egg. Where nests are too near the males strike at one another viciously. 
They stand about frequently, looking down as though at an egg or strutting with 
neck erect and bill pointed down and partly opened wings, walking with rapid 
steps before the female. 
Gardiner Island , May 22 , 1923 . 125 pairs nested on the ledges in open colonies. Nest 
contained eggs varying from nearly plain to heavily spotted and equally variable 
in shape. The pyriform shape of most cliff nesting birds does not hold in 
these as their eggs varied from pyriform to oval. One or two nearly grown young 
noted. 
Nihoa Island , May 24-26, 1925 . Noted. 
Uune 11-16, 1925 * About 2000 pairs nested now, nearly half of them on a steeply slop¬ 
ing cleft between the two divisions of the highest peak. Small groups were 
scattered over the larger rock ledges above the sea while others ranged along 
the sides of the valleys. Most of them now had eggs, fresh or partly incubated. 
