286 Capt. Sperling's Ornithological Notes 



congenial feeding-ground for hundreds of Flamingos^ Curlews, 

 Plovers, and other waders, some of which are always on them. 

 The shores are low, covered with cocoa-nut palms, and bram- 

 bles, and how sandy can only be known to the wretched 

 " human " who drags a twelve-bore gun and his weary limbs 

 over the hot yielding surface. 



Latterly, however, I did not scruple to avail myself of slave- 

 labour to the extent of making four cheerful negroes carry me 

 about in a luxurious shaded " marsheela,^' the palanquin of these 

 parts, while I shot birds from under the awning. 



We left Mo9ambic after a stay of about ten days, and on the 

 2nd of December arrived off the Kongoni mouth of the Zambesi 

 river. Here we found Mr. Young and Mr. Faulkner, together 

 with the rest of the Livingstone-Search Expedition, and took 

 them to Simon's Bay. When rounding the Cape, on our return, 

 not a single Cape Pigeon was visible ; so they were evidently off 

 to their unknown breeding-grounds. 



By this mail I have forwarded to my friend Mr. Dresser 

 some eggs of the Sooty Tern [Sterna fuliginosa) ; and, although 

 these birds are not included in the East-African list, it may not 

 be out of place for me to give here a brief description of their 

 breeding-place at the island of Ascension*. 



On the 8th of last June I was literally cast on shore on that 

 island ; for the periodical rollers were dashing against the coast, 

 and my boat was upset in the surf; so giving myself a good 

 shake, as the only available means of drying my clothes, I 

 started for " Wide-awake Fair," the name which the blue-jackets 

 who have visited the place have considered an appropriate one 

 to designate the spot where the birds gather for nesting-pur- 

 poses. Leaving Comfortless Cove about the middle of the day, 

 I walked over two dreary miles of cinders and ashes, uncheered 

 by a symptom of vegetation, before I noticed flocks of Terns 

 converging from various parts of the ocean to a spot apparently 

 about a mile in front of me ; but as yet I observed nothing of 



* [It may be necessary to observe that our contributor's account of 

 Ascension and " "Wide-awake Fair" was written in ignorance that the 

 subject had been lately treated in a cotemporaiy (Zoologist, s. s. pp. 979- 



984).— Ed.]. 



