8y LITTLE ISLANDS. [169I. 



are almost reduc'J to the Substance of Mould. The Odour 

 of this Flower, strikes one agreeably at a hundred Paces 

 distance. 



The Air of this Isle will not suffer Lice or Fleas, as one 

 may be assur'd by Experience after such a Voyage as ours. 

 Neither were we troubled by any stinging Flies, nor other 

 Insects that are so troublesom in the Night, or rather so 

 intolerable, in other Places. 



In those little Islands^ before-mention'd where the Pigeons 

 build, there are an infinite number of Sea-Fowl ; their Flesh 

 (is) not pleasant to the Taste, nor very wholesom, but their 

 Eggs are very good. There's such abundance of these 

 Birds,2 that when they rise, the Sky is even darken'd by 

 them. 



They hatch on the Sand, and so near one another that they 

 touch, tho' of different Kinds. These poor Creatures are so 

 Tame, and so little Diffident, that they will not rise tho' you 

 are almost upon them. They lay three times a year, and but 

 one Egg at a time, like the Solitaries ; which is the more 

 Eemarkable, for that if I am not Mistaken, we have no 

 Example of any thing like it among our European Birds. I 

 shall add one very particular thing which I observ'd in some 

 of these Birds in Maurice Island, when I come to treat of 

 that Isle. 



Thus have I related the most considerable Observations 

 we made in and about the Island of Rodrigo. I must now, 



1 These little islets are noticeable both in Leguat's sketch map and 

 the Admiralty charts, facsimiles of which have been given for com- 

 parison. It will be seen that these islets extend from Booby Island 

 (55 feet) on the north, round the west side of the island within the 

 reefs to Port South-East, Crab Island being the highest of them 

 (150 feet). Their names, Booby, Pierrot, and Frigate, etc., indicate 

 their being the homes of land-birds and sea-fowl. It is not easy to 

 identify any particular islet in Leguat's map. 



2 Probably terns, several species of which breed on the islets round 

 Rodriguez. (Cf. Phil. Trans., I. c, pp. 463 et scq.) 



