A CURIOUS WARBLER 209 



feet of it, when suddenly our boatmen swung 

 the boat sharply and, almost touching a huge rock, 

 passed in safety into a small sheltered bay, where 

 we landed on a sloping sandy shore. 



High up on the shore, under the shade of banana 

 trees, was a boathouse containing several large 

 boats, one of which was pointed out to us as 

 " the boat Queen Victoria gave us." It was 

 presented to the Pitcairn Islanders several years 

 ago by the late Queen, who always took a deep 

 interest in this little British colony. 



We ascended a steep winding pathway to the 

 settlement, and as we walked numbers of smaU 

 blue-tailed lizards* ran across the path in front 

 of us, while many were seen climbing over the 

 rocks and tree-trunks. Amongst the tree-tops 

 small warblers were busily searching for insects, 

 and uttering a loud " chack-chack." This bird, 

 a reed-warbler — Tatare vaugliani — is the only 

 land-bird to be found on Pitcairn. It has a rare 

 peculiarity of plumage. When young the colour 

 is normally a greenish-brown, but after the first 

 moult many of the feathers in the wings and tail 

 become a creamy white. In no case are these 

 white feathers evenly distributed, but they are 

 scattered indiscriminately amongst the normally 

 coloured quiUs.| The uneven distribution of the 



* Lygoaoma cyanurum. 

 f It is possible that very old birds may have entirely white wings and 

 t£ul. Amongst the specimens we obtained some were whiter than 

 others, though in no case were they evenly marked with white. 



