256 SEA-BIRDS 



than themselves, to give up the fish they have taken. But 

 they do also fish for themselves, darting down upon the surface 

 of the water. The white tropic-bird is also an expert fisher, 

 plunging sometimes to a great depth after its prey. They 

 remain all night on their nest, leaving it at sunrise to fish in the 

 open sea. After heavy storms the frigate-bird is occasionally 

 seen quite in the interior, being apparently driven inwards by 

 the violence of the wind. 



Of the sea-birds proper, there are about a score kinds fre- 

 quenting the coasts of Madagascar, including those widely 

 spread and powerful-winged species belonging to the terns, the 

 noddies, the gulls, and the petrels. Very little, however, has 

 been noted here as to their habits, and they probably differ 

 little, if anything, from their fellows which are found all over 

 the world. One of the terns comes up into the interior, and 

 has been shot in Imerina, and so also has one of the gulls ; 

 another is common on the Alaotra lake in Antsihanaka. 



1 1 am glad to say that our visit was a means of calling atten- 

 tion to the needs of the forest tribes ; and that evangelists have 

 been stationed for many years past among these people, who 

 are becoming enlightened and Christianised. 



