372 Mr. O. Salvin on the Sea-birds of British Honduras. 



tance from the base to the extremity of the tail. The first primary 

 is short (about 1"1 in. in length from insertion) ; second 0'8 in. 

 longer ; fourth and fifth equal and largest ; third rather shorter 

 than seventh. 



The tarsi and feet correspond with those of T. ramphastinus. 



The tail of the single specimen is imperfect, but appears not 

 to differ in form from that of the other species, consisting of ten 

 rectrices, the two outermost of which are half an inch shorter 

 than the medial. 



Mr. Osbert Salvin suggests that the specimen may be a female 

 of a more gaudily coloured male; and there are some points in 

 its character, particularly the nearly obsolete grey pectoral band, 

 only showing on each side of the breast, which lead me to think 

 that the opinion may be correct. At present the specimen is 

 unique; but I trust that Dr. A. von Frantzius (who, I believe, is 

 still resident at San Jose) will before long obtain further ex- 

 amples of this singular bird, and let us know whether there is 

 any distinction between the sexes. 



XXXI. — A Fortnight amongst the Sea-birds of British Honduras. 

 By OsBERT Salvin, M.A., F.L.S., &c. 



At daybreak of the 26th of April, 1862, I reached Belize from 

 Vera Paz, by way of Peten and the Belize river ; and finding no 

 schooner in the harbour ready to sail for Yzabal, I seized the 

 opportunity offered for collecting the sea-birds frequenting that 

 part of the coast. It was no easy matter to gather reliable in- 

 formation respecting the haunts of the several species; so after 

 a few short cruises in the neighbourhood, to Spanish Cay, St. 

 George^s Cay, Hick's Cay, &c., during which I obtained but a 

 solitary species of Tern and an immature Man-of-war Bird 

 [Fregata aquila), I saw at once that, if I wanted to succeed, it 

 would be necessary to look up the birds in their breeding- 

 haunts, and that the further I went, the greater would be my 

 chance of finding them. After some delay, I made arrange- 

 ments with one Sam Miller, a coloured Creole of Belize, the 

 owner of a small schooner, the ' Mary Ann,' to take me to 

 Lighthouse Reef and Glover's Uecf, the outermost atols of the 



