J9S NATURAL HISTORY. 



Terns, with their longish bills pointed downwards after the manner of the Caspian Tern. They 

 seemed totally fearless, and were in fact attracted to the vessel by guns which were fired at other 

 birds ; but they did not come very close, not nearer than seventy or eighty yards as a rule, but they 

 flew round and round at this distance for some time. They were in small parties of ten or twenty 

 in number. Mr. Penrose, writing on birds from the island of Ascension, states that all these species 

 of Tropic Birds, and some other sea-birds, such as the smaller Skuas, are familiarly called Boatswain 

 Birds by the sailors, owing to the resemblance of the projecting tail-feathers to a marling-spike. 

 The Tropic Birds feed principally on crabs, and they breed on a little island lying off the eastern 

 coast of Ascension, named " Boatswain Bird Island," nesting in holes in its sides, and laying only one 

 egg. Curiously enough, the male and female are found sitting in their holes side by side, with their 

 heads inwards ; and as soon as one has been drawn out it begins to use its beak to considerable 

 purpose. Two species of Phaeihon nest on this small island. 



THE THIRD FAMILY OF THE STEGANOPODES. THE PELICANS (Peleeanidee). 



Besides the true Pelicans the present family contains the Gannets (Sula), the Darters (Plotus), 

 and the Cormorants (Phalacrocorax). The Common Gannet (Sula bassana) gets its specific name from 

 its historical association with the Bass Rock, which is one of its well-known breeding-places. The 

 number of birds which frequent that locality is prodigious, and Mr. Seebohm tells us that when 

 he visited the Rock he found every available ledge on the steep side occupied with a nest. In 

 fact, it overflows with them, and on the top a number of nests are placed for which there is literally 

 no room on the ledges of the cliffs. Among these nests a person may walk, and in many cases 

 yush the birds off them. The nest, according to Mr. Seebohm, is made of sea-weed, and is very 

 similar to that of the Cormorant. He never saw more than one egg, which resembled that of the 

 last-named bird, but was perhaps twice the bulk. Looking down the cliff on to the myriads of birds 

 flying in every direction reminds the observer at once of a snow-storm. The young are almost black 

 when first hatched, but are afterwards covered with a white down. For the first year they are of a 

 dark grey colour, afterwards mottled, but it is not until the fifth year that they attain their white 

 plumage and commence to breed. They come to the Bass Rock in the early part of March, 

 remaining till October, and sometimes till November. In the winter only stray birds are seen, 

 and these are very wild. When the Gannet leaves the shores of England in the winter it is 

 seen in large quantities in the Strait of Gibraltar. Colonel Irby states that he has seen them 

 close to the Rock of Gibraltar in large numbers, where, according to the wind, they might be 

 noticed fishing 011 the leeward side of the rock, particularly close to Gibraltar, and many a time 

 lie has watched them darting down from a considerable height on their prey, often disappearing 

 rquite under the water. On the wing, to an experienced observer, they look like a large Gull. 

 'The earliest dates on which he observed this species near Gibraltar were on the llth of November, 

 1870, and the 12th of October, 1871, while in the spring he saw them as late as the 28th of 

 March. 



In the typical Gannets, such as the European bird just noticed, the throat is feathered, with 

 :a naked line in the middle, but there are several small species frequenting the tropical and 

 .southern oceans which have the tin-oat bare, as well as the whole of the face, and belong to the 

 sub-genus Dyspcrus. They also frequent islands, and an interesting account is given by Mr. Osbert 

 Salvin in his paper on the Sea-birds of British Honduras, of a visit paid by him in 1862 to the 

 cays off the last-named coast : 



11 The northern end of Half-moon Cay, which is long, and shaped as its name implies, is 

 occupied by the pilots, who have their houses scattered about under a grove of cocoa-nuts. There 

 are but few mangroves, but the southern portion, as well as nearly the whole windward side, is 

 covered by low 'bush.' A large colony of Boobies (Sula piscator} hold entire possession of this 

 portion of the island, every tree having four or five nests in it. By the time we had made 

 acquaintance with some of the pilots, and had taken a ' long drink ' of cocoa-nut milk (a luxury after 

 the stale water we had had to put up with on board the schooner), it was mid-day, yet we made our 

 way through the trees to search for Boobies' eggs. The sky was clear and the heat intense, the 

 sea-breeze not yet blowing with any force, and the foliage not being thick enough to afford much 



