Juan Fernandez and Mas-a-fuera. 83 



Eustephanus fernandensis is a very strong bird. It hovers 

 over flowers, then darts away like an arrow to a distance of 

 several hundred yards; I have never seen any other small 

 bird fly so rapidly. It feeds principally from the beautiful 

 purple flowers of the Citharexylon. It has a loud shrill cry. 

 I dissected all the specimens that I shot, and found that in 

 all cases the red birds were males, and the green females. 



Eustephanus galeritus is by no means common. I shot but 

 some half a dozen specimens, and found that they difiered ia 

 no way from specimens living on the continent. 



Of Tinnunculus sparverius all specimens that I have seen 

 from the island are cinnamon- coloured, and must be referred 

 to the Falco cinnamominus , Swains,, a form also common in 

 Peru, but rare in Chile. 



Of Otus brachyotus a pair had a nest in the face of an in- 

 accessible clifl', which I discovered by the pellets beneath. 

 I shot the male, which differed in nothing from specimens 

 from Chile. 



I believe no other species of land-bird occurs on the island, 

 or I should certainly have seen it. So we have two species 

 peculiar to the island, and four that are widely distributed on 

 the mainland. 



I found one sea-bird building, or rather excavating, its nest 

 on the island, viz. Thalassceca glacialoides. This Petrel had 

 some hundreds of nests on a slope ; and I was rather astonished 

 the first time I passed that way to hear a peculiar, short, growl- 

 ing bark that appeared to proceed from the bowels of the earth. 

 On digging up a burrow, I found at some 6 feet from the 

 surface a pair of birds but no eggs. I dug up some six nests, 

 found a pair of birds in each, but could not find any eggs. 

 All the specimens found were adults ; and why they spend the 

 day in their eggless nests I do not know. 



I shot a stray specimen of Spheniscus humboldti ; but I be- 

 lieve this species does not breed there. 



• The birds of Mas-a-fuera, so far as I know them, are the 

 following : — 



1. turdus falklandicus. 



g2 



