50 ANCHOR OFF BRAMBLE CAY. 



N.E., but owiiio- to calms and lig-ht winds had to 

 anchor twice. A strong- N.W. breeze which came 

 on last nig'ht^ and caused us to drag" the stream 

 anchor^ at length broug-ht us up to our destination, 

 near which we anchored in 25 fathomSj sand, the 

 island bearing- N.AV. J W. distant a mile and a 

 quarter. In the afternoon I landed for an hour, 

 passing' many turtle on the Avater both g'oing- and 

 returning'. As usual the islet was covered with sea 

 birds, only two species, however, of which were 

 breeding-. The Brown Booby [Sulci fiisca) and a 

 larg-e tern {Thalasseus Pelecanoides) existed in about 

 equal numbers ; the latter, in one g-reat colony, had 

 laid their solitary larg-e speckled eg-g's in a slig'ht 

 excavation in the sand, the former were scattered 

 all over the island, and had reg-ular nests of weed, 

 containing- either two eg'gs, or a sing-le young- bird 

 covered with white down. Well does the booby 

 deserve its name. The g-rotesque and stupid look 

 of the old bird standing- by its eg-g's or young- — 

 irresolute whether to defend them or not, and 

 staring* with an intensely droll expression at the 

 intruders — is very amusing- ; at leng'th on being* too 

 closely approached, it g-enerally disg-org-es the con- 

 tents of its stomach— consisting* at this time of very 

 fine flying- fish — and after some half shuffling-, half 

 flying* movements, manag-es to g-et on wing- and be 

 off. As the tern's eg-gs were within a short time of 

 beinff hatched we broke all we saw in order to 

 ensure some newly laid ones in a day or two. 



