191 
Mr. A. Newton’s two Days at Madeira. 
pomatorhinus *) were in close attendance on our ship, and about 
as many more round each of two other craft, weather-bound, 
like ourselves. They were very tame, coming close alongside 
the quarter-deck in quest of food; and dire was the strife, and 
loud the contention, as one lucky bird after another seized on 
some choice morsel and conveyed it far astern to devour it at 
leisure. Late in the evening of the 23rd the wind shifted, the 
glass rose; and shortly before midnight we had our steam up, 
our anchor weighed, and we were rounding, first, Berry Head, 
then the Start, and then were fairly on our course for Funchal. 
The next few days were passed as days are commonly passed at 
sea. We had favourable weather, and the passengers came 
gradually creeping up on deck, as flies show themselves in the 
first sunny days of spring. Two or three Gulls—apparently 
Kittiwakes (Rissa tridadyla )—occasionally convoyed us; and 
the various persons on board slowly fraternized. I was gratified 
to find several representatives of zoological science among my 
companions,—Mr. William Hinton, to whom Mr. E. Vernon 
Harcourt was indebted for many ornithological facts, as recorded 
in his earliest paper; Mr. J. Y. Johnson, who has lately pur¬ 
sued the subject of Madeiran ichthyology with as much zeal as 
success; and Mr. Robert Swift, the well-known conchologist of 
St. Thomas, West Indies. On the 28th, about noon, we were 
boarded by a pretty Saxicoline bird, no doubt a South-European 
species, and, I should suppose, either Saxicola stapazina or S. au- 
rita'j but as it was to all appearance a young bird in the first 
plumage, and I am not acquainted with either form in its im¬ 
mature dress, I could not be certain. It was tame enough, but 
declined to take any notice of a few crumbs of bread (all I had 
to offer by way of hospitality); and it did not stay with ns very 
long. About 5 o’clock in the evening, land was announced on 
the starboard bow, which our captain recognized as Porto Santo. 
By the time I got on deck it was shrouded in a heavy rain- 
cloud, and required some amount of faith to believe in its ex¬ 
istence. Later it became much plainer, and we ran by it, then 
* I fully accept Herr Preyer’s derivation of the name of this bird, 
commonly written “pomarinus,” and Dr. Sclater’s emendation of the same 
(‘Ibis/ 1862, p. 297). 
