56 A NATURALIST ON THE "CHALLENGER." 



down, and seizing the food with it with wonderful precision. 

 As they rose they bent down their heads and ate the food at 

 once on the wing from their claws. Some large fish came round 

 the ship, and amongst them some sharks, one of which was seen 

 to seize one of the kites as it put its foot down to the water 

 and carry it down after a short struggle. 



I landed with a party in search of quail shooting. We 

 landed at a small stone jetty under the cliff beneath the town, 

 and mounted by a zigzag path and steps to the top ; here just 

 above the landing-place are the barracks, one-storied, with iron- 

 grated unglazed windows, a conspicuous feature in the view of 

 the town from the anchorage. The town consists of about two 

 dozen two-storied houses, mostly surrounding a public square, 

 and a number of one-storied hovels and low wooden houses, 

 disposed in three or four parallel streets, along the ridge on 

 which the town stands. The inhabitants are nearly all negroes, 

 the remainder being Portuguese and half-castes. Attempts were 

 being made to improve the place, and there was a fountain in 

 the middle of the square with young trees planted round it and 

 good water is laid on to the town from a distance of several 

 miles. 



As soon as we landed we were beset by a crowd of negro 

 boys, wanting to carry our cartridge bags and show us where 

 plenty of quails and galinis were to be found. We each selected 

 our boy and made for the high flat plain across the valley to the 

 west. The plain was covered with tufts of short dry grass, and 

 scanty patches of young seedling grasses just coming up. Scat- 

 tered about were patches of the darker green of the abundant 

 trailing Convolvulus (Tpomcea pes ccifprce), The elevated plains 

 are intersected in all directions by deep gorges cut out by water- 

 courses which were now quite dry ; the gorges have usually 

 steeply sloping sides which terminate above in a range of cliffs. 



Quails were not at all plentiful, being only migratory visitors 

 to the island, and not having as yet arrived. The entire party 

 shot only about twenty. The Kingfisher mentioned by Darwin 

 {Halcyon Erytliroryncha), is common. The bird is peculiar to the 

 island, though very closely allied to an African species. It is a 

 beautiful bird of a brilliant blue and white with a red beak. 



