64 BOOBY GANNET. 



we were within fifty yards of it, they had all betaken themselves to flight, 

 and were dispersing in various directions. We landed, however, distri- 

 buted ourselves in different parts, and sent the boat to some distance, the 

 pilot assuring us that the birds would return. And so it happened. As 

 they approached^ we laid ourselves as flat as possible in the sand, and al- 

 though none of them alighted, we attained our object, for in a couple of 

 hours we procured thirty individuals of both sexes and of diflferent ages, 

 finding little difficulty in bringing them down as they flew over us at a 

 moderate height. The wounded birds that fell on the ground made im- 

 mediately for the water, moving with moi-e ease than I had expected from 

 the accounts usually given of the awkward motions of these birds on the 

 land. Those which reached the water swam off" with great buoyancy, and 

 with such rapidity, that it took much rowing to secure some of them, 

 while most of those that fell directly into the sea with only a wing 

 broken, escaped. The island was covered with their dung, the odour of 

 which extended to a considerable distance leeward. In the evening of the 

 same day we landed on another island, named after the Noddy, and thick- 

 ly covered with bushes and low trees, to which thousands of that species 

 of Tern resort for the purpose of breeding. There also we found a great 

 number of Boobies. They were perched on the top-branches of the trees, 

 on which they had nests, and here again we obtained as many as we de- 

 sired. They flew close over our heads, eyeing us with dismay but in si- 

 lence ; indeed, not one of these birds ever emitted a cry, except at the mo- 

 ment when they rose from their perches or from the sand. Their note is 

 harsh and guttural, somewhat like that of a strangled pig, and resembling 

 the syllables hork, Jiork. 



The nest of the Booby is placed on the top of a bush at a height of 

 from four to ten feet. It is large and flat, formed of a few dry sticks, 

 covered and matted with sea-weeds in great quantity. I have no doubt 

 that they return to the same nest many years in succession, and repair it 

 as occasion requires. In all the nests which I examined, only one egg 

 was found, and as most of the birds were sitting, and some of the eggs 

 had the chick nearly ready for exclusion, it is probable that these birds 

 raise only a single young one, like the Common Gannet or Solan Goose. 

 The egg is of a dull white colour, without spots, and about the size of 

 that of a common hen, but more elongated, being 2| inches in length, 

 with a diameter of 1|. In some nests they were covered with filth 

 from the parent bird, in the manner of the Florida Cormorant. The 



