380 Mr. O. Saivin on the Sea-birds of British Honduras. 
four rotten eggs. A few Man-of-war Birds breed in the same 
trees, nearly all of which had eggs. This Booby makes a nest 
very like the Man-of-war Bird, i. e. of twigs rather untidily laid 
together in a convenient fork in the top of a tree. I could not 
easily calculate the number of birds in this colony, but there 
were certainly several thousands. Returning to the cocoa-nut 
grove, we rested a short time to cool down, and then looked 
quietly about for small birds, as I had seen several species round 
the houses. Amongst them I was delighted to find the Melano - 
f ptila glabrirostris , Scl., a rare and curious form of Mocking¬ 
bird, with a uniform glossy blue-black plumage. I had been 
looking out for it everywhere in Vera Paz, knowing that the 
first specimens had been obtained in Honduras, but in vain. 
Besides its rarity, the doubt with which Dr. Sclater referred it 
to this section of the Turdidce made it a doubly interesting dis¬ 
covery, and I consequently watched it with greater eagerness. 
It is, I believe, rightly placed, as the habits of the bird agree 
well with the Mock-bird of the district (which also occurs on 
the Cays), not only in its actions and flight, but in its sweet 
though short song. I w T as too early to obtain its eggs, but a 
pilot assured me they were blue, which w r as corroborated by 
Sam. It goes by the name of the “ Georgy Bird ** amongst 
the Creoles. I could only hear of its occurring on the outer 
Cays, viz. those of Lighthouse and Glover’s Reefs. I found, 
v'* too, another bird new to me ( Dendrceca vieillotii , Cassin), be¬ 
longing to the American Warblers. It resembles the common 
D. cestivciy but differs in having a chestnut throat. Two Hura- 
V J ming-Birds occur, Lampornisprevosti and Amazillia cinnamomea ; 
v/ s two species of Tyrants, Tyrannus intrepidus and Elainea sub - 
/" pagamiy and the Bald-pate Pigeon ( Columba leucocepliala). I 
^ also shot Euspiza americana . 
They say that these outer Cays, at the time of the autumn 
migration, swarm with small birds, which stay to rest on their 
passage. A large Lizard (Iguana, sp. ?) abounds on this Cay: 
one or two may be seen in almost every tree, basking on the 
branches, or making their escape by scrambling from bough to 
bough. Small Lizards ( Anolis , sp.), too, peer at one round the 
cocoa-nut trees, and, waiting a moment to extend their highly 
