130 Transactions. — Zoology. 



parent stupidity of the boobies is proverbial : calmly waiting 

 to be knocked on the head as they sit on shore, or perching on 

 the .yard of a ship till the sailor climbs to their resting-place 

 and takes them off with his hand, they fall a prey to the most 

 artless birdcatcher. Even Byron's shipwrecked wretches, 

 though — 



Stagnant on the sea, 

 They lay like carcasses, 



" caught two boobies and a noddy ; " and the incident actually 

 did occur in Bligh's celebrated voyage consequent on the 

 mutiny on board the " Bounty," when he and his boat's crew 

 were in a most deplorable state. " Monday, the 2oth," says 

 Bligh, "at noon, some noddies came so near to us that one of 

 them was caught by hand. ... In the evening, several 

 boobies flying very near to us, we had the good fortune tO' 

 catch one of them. ... I directed the bird to be killed 

 for supper, and the blood to be given to three of the people 

 who were most distressed for food ; the body, beak, and feet I 

 divided into eighteen shares. . . . Tuesday, 26th, we 

 caught another booby ; so that Providence appeared to be re- 

 lieving our wants in a most extraordinary manner. The 

 people were overjoyed at this addition to their dinner, which 

 was distributed in the same manner as on the preceding even- 

 ing, giving the blood to those who were the most in want of 

 food." 



Dampier says that on the Alcranes Islands (Alacranes), on 

 the coast of Yucatan, the crowds of these birds were so great 

 that he could not pass their haunts without being incommoded 

 by their pecking. He observed that they w^ere arranged in 

 pairs, and conjectured that they were male and female. He 

 succeeded in making some fly away by the blows he bestowed 

 on tliem, but the greater part remained in spite of his efforts 

 to compel them to take flight. 



De Gennes, in his voyage to the Straits of Maghellan, 

 says that in the Island of Ascension there were such quan- 

 tities of boobies that the sailors killed five or six at a time with 

 one blow of a stick. 



The Vicomte de Querhoent says that the French soldiers 

 killed an immense quantity on this same island, and that their 

 loud cries when disturbed at night were quite overpower- 

 ing. 



This apparent exception to the general rule of self-preserv- 

 ing instinct is so remarkable that we are led to look for some 

 cause, and perhaps this may be found in the structure of the 

 animal ; for, according to many writers whose veracity cannot 

 be doubted, the boobies stay to be taken and killed after they 

 have become familiar with the effect produced by the blows or 

 shots of their persecutors. 



