20J. Lieut. J. li. H. MacFarlaue on Birds 



are separated only by a tongue of land. In the former, on 

 the 9th November^ Godwits {Limosa hudsonica) were exceed- 

 ingly numerous, eleven being killed with one barrel out of a 

 flock flying past the boat ; and in the latter bay, on 23rd 

 September, White-bellied Oyster- catchers {Ha>matopus pal- 

 liatus) were plentiful. Both these bays are uninhabited, 

 except by a few nomadic fishermen during certain seasons of 

 the year. Independencia Bay (about 1^° S.) being only a 

 few miles to the southward of Paracas, where Commodore 

 Markham obtained the celebrated Fork-tailed Gull {Xema 

 furcatum), a sharp look out was kept for anything answer- 

 ing to its description, but without success. 



Callao Bay and the adjacent island of San Lorenzo (12° S.) 

 would doubtless give very interesting results as regards 

 Laridffi, if observations were extended over a whole year, so 

 as to enable the arrival and departure of birds to be noted. 

 I visited Callao during seven different months, and have 

 tabulated my observations, commencing from my first arrival 

 in April 1883. At that date there were numbers of the North- 

 American breeder Larus franklini, the Andean Larus ser- 

 ranus, and, especially, the beautiful slate-black Inca Tern 

 [Ncenia inca) with its curling white moustaches and cherry- 

 red bill and feet. I remained only a couple of davs, and on 

 my return in August only L. serramis still remained and was 

 in considerable numbers. This is the largest of the Hooded 

 Gulls found on the coast. As we anchored at San Lorenzo 

 towards the end of the month and remained till the middle 

 of September, I had ample opportunities of exploring nearly 

 every part of the island. During my rambles I visited a 

 sandy plateau in the centre, elevated perhaps about 500 feet 

 above the sea, and there found a colony of about a dozen 

 Sterna exilis, a species rather larger and greyer than our 

 Little Tern. They were continually flying over one particu- 

 lar part, uttering their short sharp cries, and at one time it 

 looked hopeful as a bi'ceding-place, especially as I picked up 

 one small fragment of egg-shell ; but beyond this I could 

 find no traces of nesting. They were exceedingly incensed, 

 either at my general appearance or an old white felt lawn- 



