﻿336 Mr. E. Hartert on the Birds of 



not to say dangerous. The water was deep in places and the 

 bottom very rough, consisting of very sharp corals, and 

 often of a deceitful crust of salt or saltpetre, under which 

 the water was black and very deep. It required much care 

 to avoid these bad places, and it took us, I think, nearly an 

 hour to reach the nests. Our shoes being cut by the corals, 

 our feet began to bleed, and the salt water caused an un- 

 pleasant tingling in the little wounds. The nests themselves 

 were flat plateaus, standing out of the water from three to six 

 inches, the water round them being apparently very shallow, 

 but it was often the fatal crust that caused this appearance, 

 not the proper bottom. Many of the nests were close together 

 and sometimes connected by dry ground. They were quite 

 hard, so that one could stand on them, and almost the only 

 way of getting along was to jump from one nest to the other. 

 The nests consisted of clay, hardened by the sun and pene- 

 trated and overcrusted with salt, and of pieces of coral, with a 

 distinct concavity in the centre. On some of the nests we 

 found freshly-broken eggs of some species of Tern, and 

 lying in the water I found two eggs of the Flamingo, which 

 turned out to be quite fresh and eatable, although they must 

 have been in the water for some time. After the breeding- 

 place of the " Chogogo " had been thus disturbed, these shy 

 birds left the spot and flew to the other side of the island. 

 I am told that they change their breeding-places very often. 

 The two eggs measure 3'35 and 3'45 inches by 2' 13 and 

 2-16. 



Except leaving them of a colour like that of a boiled lobster, 

 this pleasant trip had no evil result on my legs, but my guide, 

 the faithful policeman of Mijnheer van den Brandhof, lost 

 the entire skin of his, and could not go out for some days 

 afterwards. 



33. Pelecanus fuscus, Linn. 



I saw flocks of this Pelican at sea close to the shore. 



34. Fregata aquila (Linn.). 



I did not see the Frigate-bird on the island myself, but I 

 am assured that it not rarely occurs there. 



[48] 



