34 GAMBLES OF A NATUEALIST. [Oh. II. 



in some instances a passage back, on board the " Serpent." 

 The following birds I observed at various times during the 

 day, and sometimes several of them flying about the ship, 

 and from time to time settling on various parts of the rig- 

 ging : — a yellow warbler (Sylvia) ; a yellow wagtail (Motacilla 

 boarula) ; a shrike (Lanius), grey with a black moustache, 

 apparently identical with the one already seen on the island ; 

 two species of swallow (Hirundo) ; a small heron (Ardea) ; 

 a handsome black bird rather bigger than a common black- 

 bird, with a crimson beak and a large white spot on each 

 wing; a red dove with a white head; a yellow and black 

 spotted plover (Charadrius pluvialis orientalis), precisely 

 resembling the British golden plover ; a species of flycatcher 

 (Myiagra azurea) ; and a bird closely resembling a hen 

 chafiinch (? Munia topela). 



This iuteresting assemblage of birds was evidently but a 

 few of the numbers blown off the land (probably Formosa) 

 by the force of a moderately strong north-east wind, and of 

 them, many would perish in the sea, a few would find relief 

 and restoration in passing ships, and without doubt some 

 would reach Pratas Island, and finding means of subsistence 

 would take up their residence there, and be jotted down in 

 the Avi-fauna of the next observer. 



