6982 Birds. 



appropriated by ibe latter. Nearly every tree and bush, both high and low, was 

 covered with birds and their nests. The latter were mostly coraposed of a few sticks 

 laid crosswise, hardly as imich in quantity as in the nest of the ring dove {Columba 

 pulumbus) . Each nest contained a single egg, about the size of a hen's egg, and of 

 a chalky whiteness. We brought away nearly a hundred of them. Some were quite 

 fresh, and others had been sat upon some days. Although the nests were upon low 

 bushes, still they were placed just loo high for one to reach the eggs without climbing. 

 Many of the nests were on the mangrove bushes which were growing just above high 

 water mark, so that we could see into them when standing on the bank of the island, 

 which was at a higher level. Some of the birds were sitting on their nests, and others 

 were perched upon the branches. By firing into the mass I might have killed 

 a dozen at a shot; but shooting would have been an absurdity, for I could have ob- 

 tained any number with a stick. The difficulty was to gel them off their nests. 

 Shouting had little or no effect, and even the report of a gun would only rouse a 

 few, who would frequently settle again on the bushes. I threw some stones among 

 them, without producing much result, and even tried to poke them off their seats with 

 my gun ; but they merely snapped their beaks at me in retaliation. All this time 

 there were thousands of other birds soaring in the air a little way above our heads. I 

 observed that the frigate-birds were of three diflFerent plumages. As there were birds 

 of all three sorts sitting together, and with their nests in the same bushes, I concluded 

 that they were of one and the same species — males, females and immature birds. 

 Some have the head and neck white, the beak white, the feet and legs bluish white, 

 the belly white, and the wing-coverts grayish brown. Others have the legs and feet 

 black, and are black all over, with a greenish metallic tinge on the back. These have 

 a bright scarlet pouch, which they inflate to the size of an ostrich's egg while on the 

 wing. The boatmen informed me that these were the male birds. Others, probably 

 immature birds, had the head black, the throat white, and the legs and feet pink. All 

 had long, black, forked tails. I obtained a specimen of each, but did not preserve 

 them, as I had much to do, and besides they are stinking birds to handle, as bad as 

 or worse than the turkey buzzard {Cathartes). The pelicans have also a breeding- 

 place in Fonseca Bay, but it is in an island at some distance from the one in 

 possession of the frigate-birds. — G. C. Taylor ; in the ^Ibis,^ i. 152. 



Great Mortality amongst Woodcocks (Scolopax rusticola). — Woodcocks have been 

 extremely scarce this season, which scarcity is accounted for by the fact that hundreds 

 of thousands of these birds were drowned during their migration towards these shores, 

 on the night of the terrific gale in which the "Royal Charter" was lost. In 

 this county, which is not a bad locality for this species, scarcely a pair have been pro- 

 cured ; sportsmen have hunted for this favoured and dainty morsel, but in vain. — S. 

 P. Saville ; Jesus Terrace, Cambridge, March 14, 1860. 



A Kittiwake Gull (Larus tridactylus) driven Inland by the late Terrific Gales. — 

 On the 28th lust., the day of the tremendous hurricane, a labouring man picked up, in 

 an entirely exhausted state, a kittiwake, in adult plumage, by the side of the River 

 Cam : the bird allowed itself to be approached and taken up, so grea t was its 

 exhaustion. — Id. 



Dates of Arrival of Migratory Birds. — April 19th, 1859: I heard the blackcap 

 and the willow wren in the garden. April 23rd : saw a pair of swallows hawking over 

 the round pond; also saw a redstart. May 1st, Sunday afternoon : saw sand martins 

 and house martins flying together about the heath. May 6th, at Chester: saw swifts 



