44 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Frigate-bird, Tachypetes aquila, is constantly to be seen soaring 

 at a great beigbt over the sea. It only nests, as far as we could 

 see, on the higher parts of St. Michael's Mount. We saw one 

 suddenly dart to the ground on the sand-hills at the eastern end 

 of the mainland, and hastened to see what it was attempting to 

 catch, but on our approach it rose and sailed away, bearing the 

 dry stem of a convolvulus in its beak, which was doubtless 

 destined for its nest. On one or two occasions a small species of 

 Albatross was seen, but not near enough to identify it. The 

 beautiful White Tern, Gygis Candida, the " Viuva branca" of the 

 Brazilians, frequents certain parts of the island. Elsewhere, as 

 for instance in the Keeling Islands, this bird deposits a single 

 egg on the base of a leaf of the cocoa-nut palm. Here, however, 

 it was laid on the branch of one of the native trees, although 

 there were plenty of cocoa-nut trees at hand. As these were 

 comparatively recently introduced, however, it had probably not 

 learnt to take advantage of them. It was very curious to see 

 this bird nesting (if one may call it so) in the middle of a 

 tree absolutely devoid of leaves; but this was a not uncommon 

 proceeding also on the part of the island Dove, Zenaida noronhee, 

 which takes no pains to conceal its nest. The fact is these birds 

 have no enemy to fear except tha rats, which cannot conveniently 

 creep along the slender branches on which they place their nests. 

 The White Tern, like the Noddj', also formed colonies in the 

 Sapate, and were more commonly seen flying over the woods than 

 near the sea. 



Besides the species already named there are also several land- 

 birds. A Tyrant— which looks very much like a hen Chaffinch at 

 a little distance — proves to be a new species. It is very common 

 all over the island, and good specimens were shot in the Governor's 

 garden. Its nest is placed in a tree, and somewhat resembles 

 that of a Chaffinch in shape. It was made of the silky pappus of 

 a curious Asclepiadaceous plant peculiar to the islands. This 

 bird had hardly commenced to breed when we were on the island, 

 but we found one nest with a single egg in it, on St. Michael's 

 Mount : unfortunately, in endeavouring to get the nest, which was 

 in a most inaccessible spot, the egg fell out and was broken. It 

 was white, with large dark red blotches. 



Another common bird here is a Greenlet (Vireo), which 

 frequents the cashew -nut tree and the cocoa-nut palms. It is a 



