Mr. 0. Salvin on the. Sea-hirds of British Honduras. 377 



When out on this sort of expedition, sundown is bed-time ; 

 so I had turned in on deck with my blanket, and had had a 

 sound sleep, and was just sensible that we were in smooth water 

 again, when a crunch, and an exclamation from Sam, " High and 

 dry ! " brought me to my feet. We had run into a reef of coral- 

 rocks, and were held fast. The corals were close to the surface, 

 and' Sam and the other two lads jumped overboard and com-- 

 menced operations to get the schooner off. It was an hour 

 before they succeeded, and in the mean time I fell asleep again. 



On the morning of the 9th, after passing round the northern 

 end of Long Cay in order to make the passage into the lagoon of 

 the atol, a tack or two brought us to Saddle Cay — a settlement 

 of Pelicans {P.fuscus). Of these there were forty or fifty old 

 and immature birds in about equal numbers ; but on lauding we 

 could find no trace of nests in the trees in which they are said 

 to build. Sam said that they built in the months of November 

 and December, and that after the young could fly the old birds 

 pulled the nests down. / It was a bold Pelican that first perched 

 upon a tree : a bird less adapted to such a resting-place could 

 hardly be imagined. Yet there they sit on the mangrove-boughs 

 for hours, preening their feathers with their long hooked bills, 

 an amusement they seem to take special delight in, all the time 

 keeping their balance with ease, even when a strong wind tries 

 the security of their footing. O.thers were resting on a spit of 

 sand that runs out from one end of the small Cay, and on the 

 stranded logs, of which plenty lie scattered along the reefs even 

 of the outermost atols, being floated out of every stream during the 

 floods of the wet season ; more still were fishing in the shallows. 

 There are few sea-birds more interesting to observe than Pelicans 

 fishing : there is a sort of methodical determination about the 

 way in which they set to work that seems to warrant success ; and 

 I have watched them time after time dart down, seldom failinc 

 on coming to the surface, to bolt the fish they have secured. 

 When a bird does miss, a look of disappointment is ludicrously 

 shown by the dejected way in which it hangs down its bill. 

 Four or five usually rise in company, and flying round to get the 

 requisite impetus and height, with neck drawn in and beak 

 slightly depressed, they suddenly, as it were, stop short in the air 



VOL. VI. 2 c 



