Mr. 0. Salvin on the Sea-birds of British Honduras. 377 
When out on this sort of expedition, sundown is bed-time; 
so I had turned in on deck with my blanket, and had had a 
sound sleep, and was just sensible that we were in smooth water 
again, when a crunch, and an exclamation from Sam, “ High and 
dry ! ” brought me to my feet. We had run into a reef of coral- 
rocks, and were held fast. The corals were close to the surface, 
and Sam and the other two lads jumped overboard and com¬ 
menced operations to get the schooner off. It was an hour 
before they succeeded, and in the mean time I fell asleep again. 
On the morning of the 9th, after passing round the northern 
end of Long Cay in order to make the passage into the lagoon of 
the atol, a tack or two brought us to Saddle Cay—a settlement 
of Pelicans (P. fuscus ). Of these there were forty or fifty old 
and immature birds in about equal numbers ; but on landing we 
could find no trace of nests in the trees in which they are said 
to build. Sam said that they built in the months of November 
and December, and that after the young could fly the old birds 
pulled the nests down. It was a bold Pelican that first perched 
upon a tree : a bird less adapted to such a resting-place could 
hardly be imagined. Yet there they sit on the mangrove-boughs 
for hours, preening their feathers with their long hooked bills, 
an amusement they seem to take special delight in, all the time 
keeping their balance with ease, even when a strong wind tries 
the security of their footing. Others were resting on a spit of 
sand that runs out from one end of the small Cay, and on the 
stranded logs, of which plenty lie scattered along the reefs even 
of the outermost atols, being floated out of every stream during the 
floods of the wet season; more still were fishing in the shallows. 
There are few sea-birds more interesting to observe than Pelicans 
fishing : there is a sort of methodical determination about the 
way in which they set to work that seems to warrant success ; and * 
I have watched them time after time dart down, seldom failing, 
on coming to the surface, to bolt the fish they have secured. 
When a bird does miss, a look of disappointment is ludicrously 
shown by the dejected way in which it hangs down its bill. 
Pour or five usually rise in company, and flying round to get the 
requisite impetus and height, with neck drawn in and beak 
slightly depressed, they suddenly, as it were, stop short in the air, 
VOL. vi. 2 c 
