Rs SR eA 81S Nn 
NATURAL HISTORY OF A GUANO ISLAND. 173 
lived on lizards ; a snipe or sandpiper, and curlew. The two last 
were almost always on the island, either on the edge of the reef 
or near the small lagoons, but they did not breed there. 
e fourteen pare that ies on the island there 
ati crow 
tropic d th 
Of these birds the one which 
booby, which it did a er on the branches of trees or on the low 
marsh 
frequently lay two eggs and sit on them, but I never saw more 
one young one; all the other birds lay one gies Tie 
e young have flow 
most numer ine e black wide-awake and the 
frigate bird, and it is a them that es deposits of guano on the 
island are principally due. 
The wide- ALkrst lays on the sloping bank twice a year, in 
October and April, under the shelter. of — of Tee hh In 
of birds fying to rag fro between the flock and the sea. Day 
day the imm k flies lower and lower, till about the 
re fo 
island. the hock would in this way cover 5 acres of ground, but 
in 2} years the number had been reduced to one-fifth, Hatin 2 § 
* ceva” soa of cats yaa had run wild and eased with 
idity. The bird seems only to iy one egg and 
hateh. it, er poi that te is taken away, in a few days another is laid 
in the same place, unless the flock has been too much disturbed, 
