A CURIOUS WARBLER 209 



feet of it, when suddenly our boatmen swung 

 the boat sharply and, almost touching a huge rock, 

 passed in safety into a small sheltered bay, where 

 we landed on a sloping sandy shore. 



High up on the shore, under the shade of banana 

 trees, was a boathouse containing several large 

 boats, one of which was pointed out to us as 

 " the boat Queen Victoria gave us." It was 

 presented to the Pitcairn Islanders several years 

 ago by the late Queen, who always took a deep 

 interest in this little British colony. 



We ascended a steep winding pathway to the 

 settlement, and as we walked numbers of small 

 blue-tailed lizards* ran across the path in front 

 of us, while many were seen climbing over the 

 rocks and tree-trunks. Amongst the tree-tops 

 small warblers were busily searching for insects, 

 and uttering a loud " chack-chaek." This bird, 

 a reed-warbler Tatar e vaughani is the only 

 land-bird to be found on Pitcairn. It has a rare 

 peculiarity of plumage. When young the colour 

 is normally a greenish-brown, but after the first 

 moult many of the feathers in the wings and tail 

 become a creamy white. In no case are these 

 white feathers evenly distributed, but they are 

 scattered indiscriminately amongst the normally 

 coloured quills, f The uneven distribution of the 



* Lygosoma cyamirum. 



f It is possible that very old birds may have entirely white wings and 

 tail. Amongst the specimens we obtained some were whiter than 

 others, though in no case were they evenly marked with white. 



