1^0 TRAVELS IN 
now and then prefented to our view, my peo-* 
pie waded into the water to catch them ^ but 
the moment they approached their hands^ 
the fhell inftantly funk, and, with all the art 
they employed, they could not get hold even 
of one ; the inftin(3: of the animal fhewed 
itfelf to be more fubtle than they, and obliged 
them to give up the attempt. Amufed as much 
as difappolnted by this dexterity, I called my 
fifliermen, who returned not a little afhamed 
at being out-witted by a fhell-fiih. More fuc- 
cefsful than they, I had the good fortune to 
kill feveral marine birds of the fpecies of the 
fea-gull and fea-fwallow. One of the latter, 
charadlerifed by a large bill of the colour of 
red coral, will form among my defcriptions a 
new fpecies, entirely unknown to ornitho- 
logifts. 
Befides thefe birds, we faw foarlng above 
the fea, and as far as our fight could extend, 
a prodigious number of white boobies *,which, 
with their wings folded and their necks ftretch- 
ed out, fufFered themfelves to drop heavily 
* The fame fpecies has been defcribed by BufFon under 
the name of fou de Bajfan, See les planches enluminhsy 
plate 278. 
from 
