144 



THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



the islands are visited from time to time by immense numbers of migratory birds from 

 that continent, especially during their great southern migration. Of these the American 

 Golden Plover (Charadrius marmoratus) seems to visit Bermuda in the greatest numbers, 

 but various other birds frequenting marshes— gallinules, rails, and snipes — arrive in no 

 small quantities every year. These birds have possibly brought a good many plants to 

 Bermuda, as seeds attached to their feet or feathers, or in their crops. Some of the most 

 conspicuous of the present land birds of Bermuda, such as the " Red Bird," or Cardinal, 

 have been introduced for ornamental effect. 



The birds most interesting to the naturalist encountering them for the first time, 



Fig. 58. — Natural Swamp- Vegetation, Bermuda. (From a Photograph.) 



are the " Boatswain-birds " {Phaethon flavirostris). They are white, a little smaller 

 than the commonest English Gull, and shaped more like a Sea-swallow or Tern, though 

 allied to the Gannets and Cormorants ; in the tail are two long narrow feathers of a 

 reddish tint, which, as the bird Hies, are kept extended behind, and give it a curious appear- 

 ance. The birds breed, more or less gregariously, in holes in the rock formed by the 

 weathering out of softer layers ; it is easy to secure them in the hole by clapping a cap 

 over its mouth, when both male and female can often be caught together. It is, however, 

 quite a different matter to get hold of them for skinning : their bills are very sharp and 



