A WALKING FISH 91 



by the natives. Possibly it has been introduced 

 into the Comoro Islands from Madagascar on 

 account of its edible qualities. The natives of the 

 Comoro Islands also hold the lemur in great esteem 

 as a delicacy, and they declare it to be, when young, 

 quite as good eating as chicken. 



Lower down the hill, amongst the sugar cane 

 and other cultivated crops, were several species of 

 birds, but most of these were without any doubt 

 introductions, and as such were not worthy of 

 notice. Numbers of small swifts* were flying round 

 the cocoanut palms near our landing place. Owing 

 to its rapid flight this swift is very difficult to shoot? 

 so that only one specimen was obtained. This 

 one fell on a patch of bare ground which was 

 honeycombed by the burrows of land-crabs ; before 

 I could pick it up a crab, starting forward and 

 seizing it, dragged it underground, and only with 

 great difficulty was I able to open up the burrow 

 and rescue the bird. 



Green bee-eaters*j* were seen in numbers on the 

 low ground amongst the cultivation, and it is 

 interesting to note that this species ranges from 

 Madagascar across Africa to the west coast. 



Late in the afternoon we walked down to the 

 mangrove swamp where our boat was waiting for 

 us. Here we came across that peculiar fish, the 

 walking goby. J It was in great numbers on the 



* Tachornis gracilis. f MeropB super ciliosus. 



X Periophthalmus koebreuteri. 



