328 APPENDIX. 



The Tra-tra (Booby)/ so called because it always cries thus, 

 is a bird which is not so large as the Boeuf, and has a beak 

 approaching that of the Boeuf; it is of grey colour, a little white 

 under the belly'. It roosts and makes its nests in the trees, and 

 sits iu turn ; but it is in greater numbers than the Boeufs. When 

 they are small they are all white, and the beak all black ; and 

 when they are full-grown, they are gi'ey and the beak greenish. 

 The Frigate does not approach them when they ai'e settled on the 

 gi'ound, or on the trees, or in the water, when they defend them- 

 selves ; aud when they are refreshed, they take their flight to go 

 to the spot where their nest is, and scarcely ever make a mis- 

 take when they arrive. One sees them come in prodigious 

 numbers, from four o'clock in the evening until night. 



The Noddy (Foiy is, as I have said, of the size of a small pigeon ; 

 it goes to tish at two leagues distance at the farthest. 



The Shearwater is of the same colour as the Noddy, but 

 a little larger, and has the beak longer and hooked, like the 

 Frigate. It does not go far to fish, and generally does not go 

 except at night. There are sonje who affirm that it cannot fly be- 

 cause the light dazzles its sight. I have, indeed, seen them by day 

 6y about without taking their direct way. They are in the holes of 

 the rocks, and they cry like small infants. At night, when they go 

 to fish, I have knocked over many on shore in this manner ; when 

 they come out of their hole, and one hears them cry, he must 

 have a dry branch of palm and all of a sudden set alight to it, and 

 when they see the light tliey tumble on the ground ; on the other 

 hand, if they do not see it they continue their way. 



There are Hill-shearwaters {Fouqtiets de montagne)^ but very 

 few ; I have only seen them flying, therefore I cannot speak 

 particularly of them ; they nest in the holes in the ground and 

 on the top of the mountain. 



The Terns (Mcnivetfes) are in small numbers, and do not go to 



1 Tni-tra, perhaps the Stila piftcafor. 



" Probably the Anous stolid us; vide supra. 



'^ These birds are probably another species of shearAv^ater. 



