248 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BERMUDAS. 



April ^th. — In passing the Chief Justice's pond, sent the 

 Spaniel in, and disturbed the Bittern seen on the 17th 

 ultimo. 



April igth. — Mr. Hunt Marriott (late of the Customs 

 Department in these Islands, and recently appointed Con- 

 troller of Customs at Berbice), who for some years was a 

 Lieutenant in the East India Company, and stationed at 

 St. Helena, makes the following statement in a letter ad- 

 dressed to me on the ninth of May last, from England : 

 " You know I always said our St. Helena Tropic Bird was 

 different to the Bermuda one. I have the two before me 

 now, and I give you the dimensions of the St. Helena one, 

 as near as I can take them, from a stuffed and set up speci- 

 men. Circumference of bill at base, two and a half inches; 

 length from base of bill to end of long tail feather, two feet 

 eight and a half inches ; tip of wing to shoulder one foot 

 five and a half inches ; length of tail feather to its in- 

 sertion, one foot ten inches. Tail feathers, thirteen in 

 number ; quills, outer half brown, inner white ; the 

 feathers above the quills, black, edged with white ; back 

 and shoulders, white, barred with black. All the under 

 plumage a satin white ; bill, red ; under, over, and in 

 front of eye, black — much more distinct and deeper than in 

 Bermuda specimen. Indeed the two are most undoubtedly 

 distinct, and that of the Mauritius is another distinct one. 

 Our St. Helena specimen is one half larger than yours at 

 Bermuda." On comparing the above statement with a 

 specimen of the Bermuda Tropic Bird, now in my posses- 

 sion, I am convinced that Mr. Marriott's conclusions 

 regarding the St. Helena specimen are incorrect. The 

 following observations will more fully explain the grounds 

 of this opinion. First — In the circumference of the bill, 

 at the base, the proportions are about equal. Second — 



