3*78 Mr. O. Salvin on the Sea-birds of British Honduras . 
and dash, with outstretched neck, into the water upon the shoal 
of fish, which has perhaps shifted a little from the spot on which 
the last descent was made. They rest but a moment on the 
water—only time enough to bolt the prey, which is done by 
throwing the bill upwards, thus slightly distending the pouch— 
a ready bag to receive the fish, before held between the mandibles. 
There were a good many King-birds ( Tyrannus intrepidus) 
amongst the shrubby trees that grow on the Cay j and a pair of 
Ospreys (Pandion carolinensis) seemed to belong to the place, 
though I saw no trace of their old nest. The gregarious habits 
of the American Osprey, in contradistinction to the solitary pairs 
usually seen in Europe, have been upheld as an argument for 
their specific difference. I believe, in neither case does the rule 
hold: certainly the Central-American bird, common as it is on 
these coasts, has nothing gregarious in its habits. Few of the 
Cays of which I am now writing are without a pair, and yet I 
observed no instance of more than a single pair frequenting one 
island. On the other hand, in Europe instances occur in which 
a large number of Ospreys are found within a very limited dis¬ 
trict ; but perhaps in neither case can the Osprey be called gre¬ 
garious, in the strict sense of the term. 
On nearing Saddle Cay we steered straight for Half-Moon 
Cay, keeping just inside the reef. There were several old trees, 
with their branches above water, lying stranded in the shallows, 
upon which a few Terns were sitting; but I left them, as we 
had a colony of Boobies ( Sula piscator) to visit, and specimens to 
collect, which would occupy the whole of our time. It is use¬ 
less to accumulate too much work in those hot districts: the 
specimens collected during the day must be skinned before the 
next, or they are sure to - be lost, and the skinning must be 
' thoroughly done, especially in the case of sea-birds, or the 
specimen will prove of little value. The making up of the skin 
is of least importance, and time is often lost by too much atten¬ 
tion to extra finish. 
The northern end of this Cay, which is long, and shaped as 
its name implies, is occupied by the pilots, who have their 
houses scattered about under a grove of cocoa-nuts. There are 
but few mangroves; but the southern portion, as well as nearly 
