Observations on the Birds of St. Croix. 365 



reasonable doubt can exist regarding these eggs, as no other 

 bird at Zana could possibly have laid them, but we did not take 

 any ourselves. They build, probably, on some of the small 

 mounds on the north side of the marsh, which stand like islands 

 out of the swampy ground. The statement in Mr. Tristram's 

 Sale Catalogue of 1858, describing their eggs as laid on the tops 

 of the highest hills, was an idea we entertained at one time 

 from a vague description, given by the Arab who brought us 

 the first eggs, of the place where he found them. This idea 

 we afterwards rejected as resting upon insufficient evidence. 

 In fact we left Zana before these birds had begun to sit, and 

 consequently were never able to determine the exact localities 

 where they bred. These Terns feed over the grass fields and 

 open land, hovering and descending, as our more familiar species 

 do on the English coast over a shallow, their food being grass- 

 hoppers and beetles, which there swarm, instead of sand-eels. 



147. Hydrochelidon pissipes. (Black Tern.) 



On one occasion I saw Black Terns skimming over the lake 

 of Djendeli. 



148. Carbo cormoranus. (Cormorant.) 



Several Cormorants share with the Ospreys {Pandion.haliaetus) 

 the posts set up in the lagoon of El Baheira. 



I regret that I have been able to give so imperfectly the 

 Arabic names of the birds in the preceding pages. Much more 

 complete information on this point will be found on referring 

 to Capt. Loche's ' Catalogue des Mammiferes et des Oiseaux 

 observes en Algerie ', published at Paris, 1 vol. 8vo. 



XXXV. — Observations on the Birds of St. Croix, West Indies, 

 made, between Februar]/ 20th and August 6th 1857 bi/ Alfred 

 Newton, and between March 4th and September 2Sth 1858 

 by Edward Newton. (Part IV.) 



[Concluded from p. 264.] 

 (Plate XII.) 



t 50. [?] (?) Flamingo. Phoenicopterus (?). 



Large bands of some species of Flamingo — probably the Ph. 



