CHAP. II.] MADEIRA TO THE COAST OF BRAZIL. 95 



there is always a heavy surf, which had a rise and fall when 

 w^e were there against the precipitous wall of rock of from five 

 to seven feet. Tlie rock is in rough ledges, and landing has to 

 be accomplished by a spring and a scramble when the boat is 

 on the top of a wave. When we landed the sun was just set- 

 ting behind the ship. There was not a cloud in the sky, and 

 the sun went down into the sea a perfect disk, throwing won- 

 derful tints of rose-color upon the fantastic rocks. As men- 

 tioned by Mr. Darwin, there are only two species of birds on 

 the rocks, the " booby" {Sula fusca) and the "noddy" [Sterna 

 stolida), both having a wide distribution on tropical islands and 

 shores. On St. Paul's Rocks they are in enormous numbers, 

 and can be seen flying round the peaks and sitting on the 

 ledges from a great distance. We landed the first evening on 

 the smaller rock which forms the northern portion of the ridge, 

 and which is a breeding-place of the tern (Fig. 28). The birds 

 were quite tame, allowing themselves to be knocked over w^ith 

 a stick, or even taken w^ith the hand. They build simj^le nests 

 on rocky ledges, of a conferva wdiich grows abundantly at the 

 water-edge mixed with feathers and matted together probably 

 with some cement matter ejected from the bird's stomach. 

 The nests seem to be used more than once, perhaps with a lit- 

 tle repair from time to time ; for many of them were large, 

 consisting apparently of several layers of different dates, and 

 were decomposed at the base into a yellowish earth. A single 

 egg was found in some of the nests, and in others a young bird, 

 but the breeding-season was evidently nearly over. The young 

 bird is covered with fine black down, and looks like a little ball 

 of black wool. 



The caj)tain's party laid a line across the mouth of the cove 

 to make landing easier for their successors, and in the evening 

 a boat went off with officers and men to fish. The fish were 

 in great numbers, particularly a species of the genus Caranx^ 

 called, apparently in common with manj'^ other edible fishes in 



