LAND BIEDS AT SEA. 257 



No other bird visited us till after we had left Aden, on 

 Sept. I Oth, and were entering the Red Sea on the 12th, when a 

 Hoopoe (Upupa epops) arrived during the night, and was dis- 

 covered at sunrise. The efforts of a sailor in trying to catch it 

 frightened the bird away, and it failed to return. 



Next day, Sept. 13th, a Golden Oriole (Oriolus galbula t female) 

 arrived and settled on top of the awning. This time the sailor 

 did catch it by the tail, which was all the bird left behind in the 

 hands of the astonished tar, and 0. galbula flew away southwards, 

 steering a most ungainly and awkward course. No sooner had 

 she gone than a Collared Turtle-Dove (Turtur risorius) arrived 

 and settled on the jibboom, where it stayed till the afternoon, 

 when it also flew off towards some land which was in sight. 



The next afternoon, while I was on watch, a Greenfinch 

 (Ligurinus chloris), flying across the Red Sea from east to 

 west, flew in at one of our gunports, across the deck, and out 

 through the opposite port, and was soon lost sight of. I consider 

 this a most odd and unnecessary proceeding, and the bird acted 

 as if it was being pursued by a Hawk, although no such bird 

 was in sight. 



Daybreak next morning revealed two Turtle-Doves (Turtur 

 communis), which had, I suppose, been attracted during the 

 night by our lights, and about 9 a.m. they were joined by three 

 more, the whole party remaining with us for the day and sleeping 

 at night, two in the maintop and three on the topsail yard. 

 Next morning, Saturday, the 16th, three of our friends the Turtle- 

 Doves had disappeared, and the remaining two stayed with us 

 all that day, and did not leave till the following forenoon, when 

 the weather, which had been a flat calm, changed, and a fresh 

 breeze sprung up. 



Although these two Turtle-Doves (presuming they were the 

 same, an assumption that seems allowable) had been with us over 

 fifty-six hours, they had nothing in the way of food. It causes 

 one to wonder what are a bird's fasting capacities, especially on 

 migration. I tried to tempt them with peas, &c, spread out on 

 the awning, but they refused to come down from aloft. 



This afternoon I noticed, through a telescope, a flock of 

 between forty and fifty birds, which I believed to be Greenfinches 

 (L. Moris) ; but they were rather brightly coloured, and may 



