386 Mr. O. Salvin on the Sea-birds of British Honduras . 
on all sides indicated a coming change. Sam began to talk 
ominously of a week or so without being able to stir—a pleasant 
prospect in so hot a place, and with nothing to do! We drifted 
in a calm all the morning, but afterwards, by the help of a few 
flaws, managed to gain the inside of the lagoon; then there was 
occupation enough. The water being like glass, we could see all 
that was going on beneath us; and a wonderful sight it was — 
sea-fans waving to and fro, corals of every form growing in fan¬ 
tastic shapes like trees and bowers, showing here and there a 
rent through which the water looked dark and blue. We were 
just on the edge of the reef, at one moment looking on this 
watery garden, and the next over the coral-wall where the growth 
stopped, and the depth sank suddenly. Grotesque-looking fish, 
too, were swimming about, some playing amongst the corals, 
others darting past, pursuing or pursued. A Shark also would 
swim round, giving one half a shudder, it looked so close. An 
hour spent thus was sooner gone than in whistling for the wind, 
and a ripple on the water veiling the vision beneath made 
us aware that the sea-breeze was not yet beaten. It came, 
and, blowing all the harder for the delay, carried us along 
towards Northern Two Cays at a pace that made up for lost 
time. 
Towards the northern end of the lagoon the channel becomes 
exceedingly intricate, and, in spite of all Sam's care and one of 
the boys on the look-out to direct him, we were brought up 
suddenly against a patch of coral— luckily during a lull, or the 
'Mary Ann's' timbers must have started; as it was, she was 
apparently none the worse, being accustomed to such hard 
knocks. W e had to stop and anchor midway, night coming on 
before we could thread the channel. The visit to Northern Two 
Cays proved rather a failure: the “ Gulls," as they are called 
(Thalasseus acuftavidus ), had not yet assembled. A pair of 
Dolichonyx oryzivorus and a Sanderling ( Cali dr is aretiaria) were 
added to the collection, the former being an acquisition—the first 
specimens I had seen in Central America. Near Cockroach Cay 
a channel opens into the lagoons of TurnefF, some miles to the 
northward of the Grand 13ogue. We steered for this point, and 
on entering the lagoon passed along between the reef and the 
