o?i Birds seen during the Cruise of the "Valhalla" R.Y.S. 145


From the Comoro Islands we steamed to Diego Suarez, a

splendid natural harbour at the north end of Madagascar. While

here we spent two days at the Camp d'Ambre, a small sanatorium

camp on the edge of the forest that extends nearly the whole

length of the island. The camp is about 36 miles from Diego

Suarez, and some 3,000 feet above sea level. The weather

was atrocious here, — ceaseless deluges of rain ; nevertheless, we

collected many of the birds and insects we heard and saw. The

Greater and Lesser Vasa Parrots were seen. The Lesser has a

most musical cry, and is a bird of great power of flight. One of

each of these was brought back on the yacht. The Greater Vasa

was almost silent, but the Lesser used frequently to utter the

pure wild note. On our way down from the camp in a trolley,

occasionally drawn by mules, we saw very man)'' Quails, small

and dark, many a fine Guinea Fowl, and had the great good

fortune to see, standing on the tram lines, Madagascar's only

large carnivorus animal, the rare and peculiar Fossa, Cryptoprocta

ferox. It bounded into the forest as our trolly approached.


From Madagascar we visited the Island of Glorioso, on

which lives one Frenchman looking after his coco-nut planta-

tion. The greater part of the island is quite uncultivated. Here

we found but four laud birds : a Thrush-Bulbul, a Zosterops, a

Sun-bird, and the Black and White Crow, Corvjis scaptdatus, that

seems so widely distributed. Very many shore birds were round

the island, especially numerous being the Crab Plovers, Dromas

ardeola, while the Great Frigate-bird, Fregata aquila, was breed-

ing in numbers in the tallest trees, which were full of their very

small nests. The brilliant scarlet inflated pouches of the males,

as they sit in the trees, give the trees the appearance of being

covered with large scarlet flowers, the deep green of the birds

matching the foliage well. Two forms of a Gannet, Sula piscator,

were also breeding in numbers.


After visiting two smaller islands — Isle d'Lise and Isle

Vert — we went to Assumption, a most fascinating island, quite

uninhabited and shewing no signs of man, beyond the presence

of some goats. It is an island of coral rock, more or less thickly

covered with scrub-bushes and a few trees, some four miles long

by two wide. On landing we were soon aware of the preserlce-



