Page:The Emu volume 18.djvu/334

 Phalacrocorax hypoleucus. Pied Cormorant.—This fine Cormorant is met with throughout the archipelago, but the only breeding-place I visited was the prominent rocky island adjacent to the island I propose to call Osprey Island. The sides of this island rise precipitously from the surrounding sea, but at one place the cliff has fallen down, and it is possible without much difficulty to land there and ascend to the top of the island. On the south-eastern side of the island the cliff is terraced, and here the Cormorants have made their home. So numerous and close together were the nests that it was at times difficult to walk without treading on eggs or young. The nests were placed close together, and were well-made structures of coarse spinifex stems (Spinifex longifolius). At the time of my visit eggs in every stage of freshness and incubation, and young of all ages, were observed, but I noticed at the eastern end of the colony the young were nearer maturity than in other parts, and at the western end were many nests with uncompleted clutches. Four seemed to be the full complement of eggs. Looking down into the clear water at the foot of the cliff, it was suggestive of tragedy to come, for the young, to observe numerous large and hungry sharks cruising about.

Hydroprogne caspia. Caspian Tern.—The Caspian Tern breeds on the shores of many of the islands of the Archipelago. It is an early breeder, and I was much surprised to find young nearly able to fly on 5th July. I espied a colony of sea-birds on a coral beach as we sailed by Enderby Island. A pair of Ospreys, which I detected with the aid of my glasses, determined me to land. A nearer inspection proved the sea-birds to be Caspian Terns. In all there were about thirty to forty pairs nesting just above high spring-tide mark. The nests were merely slight depressions in the sand, and the eggs in every case numbered two, always deposited in the nest with the small ends pointing in opposite directions. As a rule, the pairs of eggs were very ill-matched, either in point of size or in the tone of their ground-colour. For ail that they did not exhibit any great variety. Sturt peas (Clianthus dampieri) were growing at this nesting-place. On several other islands I discovered smaller colonies, not exceeding half a dozen pairs; but on Cormorant Island was a larger colony nesting on the summit of the rock. Despite the much later date, these eggs were fresh, and my Japanese boatman selected a few for culinary purposes.

Sternula nereis. White-faced Ternlet.—There were small parties of this little Tern on the beaches of several of the islands on which I landed. Though they pretended great anxiety, following me half round an island, perhaps, they were not really nesting. It was not until I was nearing Eaglehawk Island on my way home that I found a breeding colony. The site was a small rocky peninsula, cut off from the mainland at high tides only. A pair of Ospreys had a nest on the peninsula, and a number of young Caspian Terns were hiding in the coarse herbage. The White-faced Ternlets were nesting on a small patch of white coral sand. The nests were mere hollows in the sand, and were very close together, the whole colony not occupying half a chain of ground. There were two eggs in most of the nests. The parent birds flew overhead in one noisy, agitated flock whilst I remained near their nests. This was on 31st August. A few sets of eggs I selected were quite fresh.