Mr. 0. Salvin on the Sea-birds of British Honduras. 379 
the whole windward side, is covered by low “ bush.” A large 
colony of Boobies (Sula pis cat or) hold entire possession of this 
portion of the island, every tree having four or five nests in it. 
By the time we had made acquaintance with some of the pilots, 
and had taken a “ long drink " of cocoa-nut milk (a luxury after 
the stale water we had had to put up with on board the schooner), 
it was mid-day; yet we made our way through the trees to search 
for Boobies' eggs. The sky was clear, and the heat intense, the 
sea-breeze not yet blowing with any force, and the foliage not 
being thick enough to afford much shelter from the scorching 
rays of the sun. The Boobies, too, seemed affected by the heat, 
and sat panting with open beaks; some, still more overcome, 
were resting against a branch, with their heads hanging down, 
and eyes shut. At first I thought these were dead, but, on 
stirring them up, succeeded in making them open their eyes; I 
could not, however, prevail upon them to get up; they only 
screwed their heads about with a sort of expression that seemed 
to ask me what I meant. Over many of the nests one of the 
old birds sat, and in the same trees the fully fledged young still 
remained. The young were of every age, their plumage in¬ 
cluding every stage, from the white down of the newly hatched 
chick to the grey dress of the full-grown. In some few, still 
older, the white dress of the adult was beginning to show itself. 
The name Booby is most appropriate; I never saw a bird with 
less idea of getting out of one's way, or caring less for what one 
did. Walking about under the trees was nothing; they hardly 
condescended to look down : nor when we stirred them up 
while taking a "siesta," pulled their tails, poked them off their 
nests, and fought with them for their eggs, and bullied them in 
every way, did we succeed in getting up any sort of excitement 
in the colony. They took everything with the greatest indiffer¬ 
ence, with a complaisant, grave expression that was laughable to 
watch. And yet a Booby is no fool at fishing; rare sport they 
must have of it, flying at the pace they do, and taking such 
headers. It was too hot to climb to every nest within reach; 
and, after trying a few, we found that there was always a chance 
of an egg in a nest upon which, and not near which, an old bird 
sat. Even in this way, after a long search, we only secured 
2 c 2 
