118 



THE OOLOGIST. 



boatmen bending to their oars for the 

 breeze did not even stir the idly flap- 

 ping sail. It was probably some hours 

 later when a faint breeze stiffening the 

 sail, one of the natives relieving me at 

 the tiller, I stretched myself in the bag- 

 gage in Ihe boat's bottom and from 

 throughts of the morrow's prospects, 

 my mind glided away into that shadow 

 land where it is no surprise to take 

 eggs ( f the Great Auk from Robins' 

 ness. 



Oace during the eight I heard the 

 cry of I he islands tirst herald, presuma- 

 bly a LaughlDg Gull, but little roused 

 from slumbers was I until the grey of 

 night's last hours was resolving itself 

 into the light of dawn. Clear cut and 

 rugged, the object of the trip met my 

 gtze, but still some distance away, and 

 nOw indeed its inhabitants were send- 

 ing out messages in plenty. Occasion- 

 ally, on easy, graceful wing the Frigate 

 Bird, {Fregatta aquilla) soared aloft 

 while, silver white, a Gull or Tern 

 dashed lightly above the waves, too far 

 away to be recognized, but the most 

 freqent form, and one which at a dis- 

 tance suggested a rather heavy, clumsy 

 duck, was the Common Booby {Sula 

 sula) These birds often flaw low over 

 the boat, craning their necks and star- 

 ing down at us as though questioning 

 the cause of our invasion. Passing to 

 the north of the island we continued to 

 the west coast where, in a little cove 

 we dropped anchor. At the back of 

 this cove a slight hollow under the 

 rocks formed the camping place of a 

 party of three native fishermen from 

 Mayaguey, and here too we established 

 our base of operations. On ledges of 

 rock directly above this camp site, and 

 all along the coast the Noddy Terns, 

 ( anons stolidons ) were breeding in 

 number's. 



The island may possible be two miles 

 across in its widest place. In places 

 the rocky walls rise direct from the 

 water, in others fringed by a narrow 



beach, and they rise to a height of ten 

 to fifty or sixty feet, from their sum- 

 mits the slopes stretching up to fairly 

 lofty pinnacles and densely grown with 

 an impenetrable jungle of bush and 

 vine, while fringing this and liberally 

 sprinkling the rocks are many cactus, 

 of whose presence the over-eager col- 

 lector becomes painfully aware. 



I regretted greatly not having a cam- 

 era that I might have depicted some of 

 the scenes of bird-life. Nearly all of 

 the birds are remarkably fearless, as ^ 

 the denizens of these islands are usually 

 described, it would be hard to 'find 

 more willing sitters than many of these 

 birds would have proved. 



Unquestionably the most abundant 

 bird of the island was the Common 

 Booby. Unfortunately 1 was late (or 

 in the wrong time) for eggs of this spe- 

 cies. In one case I saw a young not 

 over half grown Booby, and from this 

 there was every stage of size and plum- 

 age up to young strong on the wing 



One of my natives volunteed the in- 

 formation that these birds breed on the 

 beach, laying on the open sand, and 

 that the eggs are bluish in color. Of 

 the birds of this part of the world it is 

 hard to say what is a late date for nest- 

 ing since there seems more or less con- 

 tinuity and irregularity. For instance 

 I have found eggs of Cuthia bicolor al- 

 most every month in the year. 



I found, too, that I was late or out of 

 season for the Frigate birds, one of the 

 specimens I brought back being an ap- 

 parently full-grown young male, but 

 whose plumage was very undeveloped, 

 head and much of plumage white, bill 

 and feet blue, and tail square, having 

 as yet not developed the fork. These 

 birds were fairly plentiful and one or 

 more could be seen at any time sailing 

 within easy gun-shot often nervously 

 closing and opening the forks of the 

 tail. 



Another bird, six or seven specimens 

 of which, I had a glimpse of, I shall 



