83 
Juan Fernandez and Mas-a-fuera . 
Eustephanus fernandensis is a very strong bird. It hovers 
over flowers, then darts away like an arrow to a distance of 
several hundred yards ; I have never seen any other small 
bird fly so rapidly. It feeds principally from the beautiful 
purple flowers of the Citharexylon . It has a loud shrill cry. 
I dissected all the specimens that I shot, and found that in 
all cases the red birds were males, and the green females. 
Eustephanus galeritus is by no means common. I shot but 
some half a dozen specimens, and found that they differed in 
no way from specimens living on the continent. 
Of Tinnunculus sparverius all specimens that I have seen 
from the island are cinnamon-coloured, and must be referred 
to the Falco cinnamominus , Swains., a form also common in 
Peru^ but rare in Chile. 
Of Otus brachyotus a pair had a nest in the face of an in- 
accessible cliff, which I discovered by the pellets beneath. 
I shot the male, which differed in nothing from specimens 
from Chile. 
I believe no other species of land-bird occurs on the island, 
or I should certainly have seen it. So we have two species 
peculiar to the island, and four that are widely distributed on 
the mainland. 
I found one sea-bird building, or rather excavating, its nest 
on the island, viz. Thalassoeca glacialoides . This Petrel had 
some hundreds of nests on a slope; and I was rather astonished 
the first time I passed that way to hear a peculiar, short, growl¬ 
ing bark that appeared to proceed from the bowels of the earth. 
On digging up a burrow, I found at some 6 feet from the 
surface a pair of birds but no eggs. I dug up some six nests, 
found a pair of birds in each, but could not find any eggs. 
All the specimens found were adults; and why they spend the 
day in their eggless nests I do not know. 
I shot a stray specimen of Spheniscus humboldti; but I be¬ 
lieve this species does not breed there. 
The birds of Mas-a-fuera, so far as I know them, are the 
following:— 
1. Turdus falklandicus. 
