during a Cruise in the Caribbean Sea. 325 



Iris pale ^rcj. Eyelids edged with bright blue ; a patch 

 of dark bluish green immediately in front of eye. 



These colours do not agree in any particular with those 

 given by Mr. Cory in his ' Birds of the West Indies/ 



SuLA pisCATOR (Linn.). 



This Gannet was present in greater numbers than either 

 of the other two s])ccies. It appears to breed earlier, and, 

 at the time of our visit, there were already young in all 

 stages of down, a few being quite big birds. The nest 

 is formed, of twigs, grass, and sticks very roughly put 

 together, and is ludicrously small in comparison with the 

 size of the bird. It is invariably placed in either mangrove 

 or sea-grape bushes. By far the greater number of nests 

 were occupied by birds in the white-tailed stage of plumage, 

 entirely white birds of the most adult stage being very scarce. 

 One egg only is laid. 



The colours of the soft parts have been recently described 

 by Dr. Bowdler Sharpe and Mr. Nicoll. 



Birds which I obtained on Little Cayman Island, whence 

 examples have been distinguished by the name of Sula coryi, 

 do not appear to differ in any respect, sufficient to justify 

 distinction, from birds obtained in other parts of the 

 Caribbean Sea. 



I have found the Little Cayman Gannets breeding at 

 exactly the same time as those on Los Hermanos. 



The cause which has led these three species of Gannet, so 

 similarly circumstanced, to constantly build their nests in 

 dissimilar positions would be an interesting subject for 

 speculation. 



Fregata aquila (Linn.). 



These birds were present in numbers amounting to many 

 hundreds. They were busy breeding, and the island was 

 covered with nests which contained eggs and young in 

 various stages of nakedness and down. 



The nest is formed of sticks and twigs, with a comfortable 

 lining of dry grass, similar to the long coarse grass which 



SER. IX. VOL. III. Z 



