A SECOND VISIT 9 



altogether four of these nests, each of which con- 

 tained a single egg. A few of the larger noddies 

 were also breeding here, but these, as on Booby 

 Hill, had laid their eggs on the bare rock, without 

 making any attempt at a nest. Moseley, in describ- 

 ing these bracket-like nests, suggests that it is 

 only the strongest birds that take possession of 

 the favourable points of the rock on which they 

 are placed, although he adds a footnote to the 

 effect that at the time of his visit he did not realize 

 that two species of noddies inhabit Saint Paul's 

 Rocks. It is, however, quite obvious that it 

 is not the strongest birds, but only the smaller 

 noddies, which occupy these ledges, since the 

 larger noddy was in no instance found nesting upon 

 them. 



This day, while we were on the rocks, a ship 

 passed by, close in. It is only occasionally that 

 ships sight these rocks, and then only to determine 

 their exact position. No one, it is almost certain, 

 had landed on Saint Paul's Rocks since the visit 

 of the " Challenger " until we were there just 

 twenty-nine years later. 



At 4.30 p.m. on the 18th December we sailed 

 away, bound for Fernando de Noronha, and as I 

 stood on deck and watched these interesting little 

 islands fading away in the distance, I little thought 

 that in three years' time it would be my fortune 

 to see them again. 



It was on my third voyage in 1905 while on the 



