of a Voyage round the World. 65 



I found a nest containing one egg which resembled that of a 

 Great Tit. The structure was very thin and made of fine 

 roots ; it was placed amongst the leaves of a willow tree on 

 Prince of Wales Island. 



On Thursday Island on May 18th I shot a Curlew-Sand- 

 piper (Tringa subarquata) on the coral-reef. It was the only 

 specimen that I saw, and was in full winter plumage. This 

 Sandpiper has been found occasionally as far south as 

 Tasmania, and there are several Australian specimens in 

 the British Museum. 



We left Thursday Island on May 23rd for Singapore. On 

 the night of May 24th (lat. 10° 6' S., long. 138° 17' E.) an 

 example of Pha'ethon rubricauda which flew on board was 

 caught and brought to me. On May 28th we sighted Timor. 

 On May 30th we were in view of Lombok, the highest peak 

 of which (12,000 feet alt.) was just apparent above the clouds. 

 On June 2nd we passed Caumata Island, in Caumata Passage, 

 between the Java Sea and the China Sea. On June 3rd, as 

 we passed Bintang, I saw two specimens of Sterna fuliginosa, 

 and at midnight we arrived at Singapore. 



The next day I visited the Botanical Gardens (under tin; 

 care of Dr. Ridley) and the Raffles Museum, where there is 

 a collection of birds. I was surprised to find that the 

 Sparrows all about the town appeared to be identical with 

 our Tree-Sparrow (Passer montanus). I was not able to 

 do any bird-collecting at Singapore. 



On June 9th we left Singapore for Colombo. I noticed 

 several Brahminy Kites {Hallastur) and two Ospreys (Pandion 

 halia'etus) as we went out. On June 15th (lat. 5° 23' 39' N., 

 long. 84° 45' 30" E.) a large Skua (Megalestris antarcticus) 

 flew close past the ship, and I saw it distinctly. I afterwards 

 noticed in the Colombo Museum two specimens of this 

 species, which had been taken in Ceylon*. On June 16th 

 (lat. 5° 21' 46" N., long. 82° 17' 21" E.) an example of 

 Pha'ethon indicus flew on board and was brought to me. 

 On June 17th we arrived at Colombo. Outside the harbour 



* See also Legge, ' Birds of Ceylon,' p. 1050. 

 SER. VIII. VOL. IV. F 



