218 A NATURALIST ON DESERT ISLANDS. 



awful suspense, as he took a long coldly deliberate aim, 

 of what seemed to me many long seconds' duration. 

 Would he never fire ? Perhaps this bird was the sole 

 survivor of its race — ^perhaps it would fly away before this 

 dark deed could be done, and we should never see it again, 

 — and what if he missed it after all ! In the long agony 

 of suspense, I was on the point of crying, " All right, don't 

 try any longer, but come quietly here," when suddenly, 

 hang went the gun — the bird had dropped, and the man 

 was rushing forward like a badly trained retriever. 

 " Good man ! he has done it " — he is, in fact, a naval 

 reserve man, and I blessed with heartfelt thankfulness the 

 forethought of some former Lord of the Admiralty, who 

 had thus provided a naturalist with a sailor who could 

 shoot straight, if somewhat deliberately. 



The bird, after all, as a matter of fact, proved to be a 

 pearly-eyed thrasher {Margarops fuscatus) ; but it was 

 distinctly interesting to find that it had established itself 

 on this lonely rock, for its proper home is further north, 

 in the Greater Antillean Islands (^\^th the exception of 

 Cuba) and in the more northerly of the Lesser Antilles. 

 It has been also previously recorded by Dr. Hartert, of 

 the Tring Museum, from the island of Bonaire, near 

 Curasao, and no doubt has found its way to that island 

 as well as this, by having been carried by the Trade- winds. 

 It is about the size, and has at a distance somewhat the 

 appearance, of a mistle-thrush, but belongs to the mocking 

 bird family and not to the true thrushes. Higher up, 

 along the saddle-backed ridge which stretches along the 

 top of the island, we saw several more examples, and shot 

 two for the purpose of future comparison. 



As far as we are aware, there are no springs on Orquilla ; 

 so that one must believe that these birds subsist on the 

 scanty rainwater which collects at odd times upon the 

 rocks, or in the angles made by the leaves, or stems of 

 vegetation, or even on the juices derived from the cactus. 

 But, however they live, here they were, and from all ap- 

 pearances they seem to have quite established themselves. 



