AN EXPEDITION TO THE SALVAGE ISLANDS. 415 



moulted plumage of the immature bird, with the feathers of the 

 back, wings, and tail, widely edged with buff; while in the old 

 birds these parts were in a much worn condition. The only 

 other small birds we got specimens of were Swifts {Micropus apus 

 and If. unicolor), Swallows, which arrived during our stay in great 

 numbers, many entering our men's stone huts after dark, House 

 Martins, and Sand Martins. Besides these, there were a few 

 pairs of Common Terns (Sterna fluviatilis) , and one day we saw 

 a pair of Turtle Doves fly from the face of a precipice, startled 

 by a shot — the death-knell of a Pardella ; while on another 

 occasion, having reached the summit of the island, we suddenly 

 came face to face with a Hobby, and though no attempt was made 

 on its life we were able to identify it beyond a doubt. 



The Reptiles in the island were few in number, only two, the 

 Long-tailed Lizard (Lacerta galloti), and a small black Gecko 

 (Tarentola delalandii) , both species being inhabitants of the 

 Canary Islands. We brought back a number of these, both alive 

 and in spirit, and their capture was an endless source of delight 

 to our Spanish fishermen, who became great adepts at finding 

 them, and generally managed to catch them without pulling their 

 tails off ! Francisco was indeed indefatigable, and would cheer- 

 fully turn over hundreds of heavy stones in a morning in search 

 of reptiles, spiders, millipedes, and such like, being quite as 

 excited over the capture of a new spider for our collection as we 

 were ourselves. Poor man ! he always walked bare-foot, and 

 very soon found to his cost that even his horny soles were not 

 proof against the sharp volcanic rocks, for his feet were always 

 more or less cut and bleeding by the time we returned to camp. 

 Every day, weather permitting, some of our men went fishing, but 

 though we obtained a good many species of fish, most of which, 

 especially the sea-perch and eels, were good enough for the table, 

 and various other inmates of the deep, we got nothing of any 

 special interest, all belonging to species known from the Madeira or 

 Canary seas. Among the shells collected we obtained a fine 

 series of the handsome pink land-snail {Helix ustulata, Lowe) 

 which is peculiar to the Salvages. Of Lepidoptera, the Painted 

 Lady was very common, varying much in size and colour ; and the 

 Gamma Moth, Plusia gamma, was constantly to be seen hovering 

 over the white flowers of the ice-plant. Having only a very small 

 boat, we were never able to go very far from shore, and it was 



