CAHOWS AND LONGTAILS 



looked, something equally dark scuffled into view 

 and my chick gave forth a series of high protesting 

 cheeps as it wriggled from beneath the feet of its 

 nervous mother. She turned a shining black eye up 

 at me and waited for what this new adventure might 

 bring forth. I could see her only in sections and what 

 was visible led my ornithological mind first to sooty 

 terns, then to Mother Carey's chickens. 



We made certain that there was no half -hidden 

 exit and that she must clamber up and down the 

 hollow chimney of the prehistoric cedar. Then we 

 found that it was impossible to reach her. Whenever 

 I lowered my hand and arm she shuffled back a few 

 inches and was as safe as if behind the strongest 

 of steel bars. Only a mighty charge of dynamite 

 would have dislodged her, while all I wanted was to 

 make identification certain. The age of the young 

 bird ensured another week or two of habitation so 

 we left with reasonable hopes of seeing them again. 



The sector of the aural compass extended some- 

 what to the east of Green Island, so on the follow- 

 ing day we landed on Idol Island. This is separated 

 from Nonsuch by a narrow strait, through which 

 the tide flows back and forth in a restless stream 

 fifteen feet in width. It is even smaller than Green 

 Island — possibly one hundred feet across, and on 

 the summit rises in solitary grandeur the stone idol 

 which dominates the lacerating surface. Its expres- 

 sion and even its personality varies when viewed 

 from different points along the Nonsuch shore and 

 I have named five successive promontories after the 



143 



