CRUISE IN THE SOUTHERN CHINA SEA. 67 



fully humoured the swell and jumped ashore on the larger of the 

 two. which is northernmost. The central islet which is next in 

 size is much more broken and is a wild confusion of little peaks 

 and precipices. 



Climbing to the top of our islet (134 feet) we found that 

 quartz predominated in its formation, which presented an ex- 

 ceedingly rough surface where grew here and there only the 

 scantiest tufts of coarse grass. Two or three dead bushes 

 crowned the summit and everywhere the ground was fouled 

 with the guano of sea-birds that use the rocks as a breeding 

 place. 



The air was full of squalling, squawking, croaking gulls 

 and among the crevices of the island's surface we discovered num- 

 bers of nestlings, and a few eggs all addled. The birds were of 

 two kinds: — a black noddy with grey head (Anous stolidas) and 

 a tern {Sterna sp.) with black head and wings, grey back and 

 grey- white breast. The remaining fauna included fishing-eagles, 

 crabs and a solitary bee. The mid- day sun, shining down on 

 the bare rocks, made the heat, combined with the scent of the 

 birds, overpowering and we soon left, having knocked over 

 sufficient specimens for the collection in a very few minutes. 



Saddle Island. 



Instead of proceeding straight to the Anambas we stopped 

 for a night and morning at Pulo Kayu Ara, a little island about 

 half a mile long covered with jungle and thus contrasting 

 strongly with the place we had just left. It is nearly 400 feet 

 high and is formed of two round hills having a dip between that 

 make together a contour from which it has gained its English 

 name. 



The feet of the hills were fringed with black rocks but 

 between lay a delightful little beach inhabited by a pair of white- 

 collared kingfishers, on which we landed and found the laying 

 places and tracks of turtles: the sea, of wonderful limpidity 

 invited to a bath. The only birds seen in the forest were fruit 

 pigeons and glossy starlings,— the only terrestrial mammal a 

 squirrel (Sciurus klossii), a small blue-bellied member of the notatus 

 group. The trees bore considerable quantities of fruit, 



R. A. Soc, No. 41, 1903, 



