^''iqii^" ] Barrett, Expedition to Capvicorn Group. i8q 



on Mast-Heaa Island. Floating out of the void, the great birds 

 bore mystery on their wings. They would soar and hover for 

 hours^a marvellous spectacle, of which one never tired. And 

 ever and anon a bird would leave the flock to make a swift swoop 

 and return, without visible motion of the wings. Like a " boomerang 

 tacked to a star " is Mr. Medley's fine description of the Frigate- 

 Bird's flight. The outspread wings form a crescent. It was dis- 

 covered, in time, that the birds had a roosting-place among the 

 sheoaks at one corner of the island, and here they were observed 

 at close quarters. The Brown-winged Terns also camped after dark 

 among the bushes, and several were caught for inspection ; but 

 the Noddies never seemed to sleep. All night they flitted about, 

 fretting the dark with their cries. 



Towards the end of our stay the Mutton-Birds began to come 

 in. Several were caught spring-cleaning in the burrows with 

 which the crown of the island was honeycombed, and our cook 

 captured a specimen that blundered into his tent one night. The 

 birds were our pets for a while. Then we had the captives of a 

 day — two young Kingfishers that had sought refuge on the 

 Endeavour in a storm, and a weary, half-starved Godwit. caught 

 on the beach, after its long flight from Asia. Mast-Head Island 

 appears to serve as a resting-place in the line of migration of some 

 of the shore-birds, judging from the Godwit and other specimens 

 obtained in poor condition. The island would make a fine station 

 for students of the great problem. 



So our bird-observing was not confined to the hours of light. 

 A fresh observation might be made at any hour ; but the mystery 

 and the wonder of night are apt to mislead, and the harvest of 

 the quiet eye be more for poetry than science. Always that 

 clamour of bird voices, night and day. Not musical, but pleasant 

 to a bird-man's ears, the medley of cries mingled with the chime 

 of the tides in one grand symphony. The number of the birds 

 that frequent this island must be very great. Along the beaches 

 are thousands of Terns — Brown-winged, Caspian, Roseate, and 

 Noddies — camped on the sand -spits or wheeling in air, with the 

 sunlight glimmering on their wings. Of White-capped Noddies, 

 by computation, from 30,000 to 40,000 nest on the island : and 

 when the Mutton-Birds come in the bird population must be 

 doubled. The Waders make up a strong company, and the 

 screaming Silver Gulls, which nest among tussocks on the sheoak 

 ridges. Of Reef-Herons there are, perhaps, a hundred pairs. 

 The land-birds, including the Sacred Kingfisher, Barred-shouldered 

 Dove, Silver-eye, Landrail, and Strepera, are far less numerous ; 

 and each of these coral islands can support but one pair of White- 

 bellied Sea-Eagles. The nest on Mast-Head Island was built 

 in the higher branches of a lofty Pisonia, and almost inaccessible 

 to man. 



THE NODDIES. 



Although hundreds of Noddies could always be seen on the wing, 

 the birds, as a community, had regular times of sea and land 



