Vol. xvi.] 1>4 



these tliree islets, but did not land. The only birds that 

 appeared to be breeding there were Noddies {Anous 

 sfolidus) and Sooty Terns {Sterna fuliginosa) . 



** Tristan da Cunha was sighted at 8 a.m. on January 17th, 

 and at 4 p.m. we were ott' the settlement. Two boats 

 came ott" to iis, and I had a talk with one of the men 

 ab(»ut the birds. He told me that the only land-bird on 

 Tristan is the Thrush [Nesocichla eremita), which is now very 

 rare. The Waterhen {Porphip'iurnis nesiotis) is, I imagine, 

 long since extinct, as none of the men I questioned laiew 

 anything about it on Tristan da Cunha, although they said 

 that a bird like a little black chicken was very abundant 

 on Inaccessible Island. We had no time that day to go 

 ashore, but I had half-an-hour's shooting from a boat, and 

 obtained a few sea-birds. That night a gale got up which 

 blew with such fury for three days that after lying oft" 

 the island for that time we were obliged to leave for the 

 Cape. 



" On January 23rd we reached Cape Town, where we 

 stayed till February 8th. 



'"During our stay at Cape Town Mr. W. L. Sclater 

 most kindly arranged several enjoyable excursions for 

 us, the most interesting being a visit to Dassen Island, 

 the largest breeding-place of the Jackass-Penguin 

 {Spheniscus demersus). (Cf. W. L. Sclater, Ibis, 1896, 

 p. 519). 



" After leaving Cape Town, Lord Crawford had intended 

 to visit the islands of Europa and Bassas-da-India in 

 the Mozambique Channel. Unfortunately, however, we 

 encountered very bad weather in the Channel, and were unable 

 to go to the islands owing to a very strong gale, which finally 

 developed into a cyclone. Our next port of call was, 

 therefore, Mayotta, Comoro Islands, where I made a col- 

 lection- of about 150 birds. We visited Anjouan Island, 

 but were unable to anchor or land owing to the weather. 

 We left Mayotta on March ;5rd for Diego Suarez, North- 

 east Madagascar, where we coaled. During our stay we 

 visited the Foret d'Ambre, which extends for 400 miles. 



