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Show 1891.] BIRDS OF THE PHOSNIX ISLANDS. 297 of four or six and perch on the top of a rock or shrub close at hand in the most friendly manner. I found the egg afterwards at Canton Island early in July. It was laid in a hollow among the rough weathered clinkers of coral rock above high-tide level. A few bits of thin shells, pieces of coral, and some sticks composed the nest. There was one egg in each of the two nests I found. The egg is astonishingly large for the size of the bird, measuring 1"5 in. in length and 103 in breadth. It is pale cream-colour with a thin uniform sprinkling of small spots, the underlying ones pale greyish brown and indistinct, the superficial ones sharply defined and rich brown. Peale found the eggs, three in a nest, at Puka-puka or Honden Island in the Paumotu Archipelago, in August1, and Dr. Graffe found them at M'Kean Island, in the Phcenix Group, in October and November2. The bird ranges widely, at least over tbe Central Pacific. It has been recorded from Christmas Island3, Fanning Island4, the Marquesas5, the Paumotus6, and the Phcenix 7 and Ellice Islands8. GVGIS CANDIDA (Gmel.). Abundant here and at Canton Island. They frequently came flying round my head in pairs, uttering their curious nasal note, and approaching so close that I quite naturally put up m y hand fancying for the moment they would alight. They lay their solitary eggs on the bare coral rock in the absence of the branches of trees which they use elsewherp. The bird is distributed widely through tropical seas. It appears that it is absent from the shores of Africa and the Malay Archipelago. There were three kinds of Wading birds on the island-Curlews, Plovers (Charadrius fulvus, Gmel.), and Turnstones (Strepsilas inter-pres (Linn.) ) ; but as my specimens came from Canton Island I will defer mention of them to the account of our visit there. Rabbits are fairly plentiful on the island, having no doubt been left here when it was worked for guano. A large scarlet Hermit-crab is very abundant, and proved a great nuisance in attacking the birds that were left under shelter, tearing their feet and the bare skin about the throat. The birds arrived at the ship in rather a draggled condition, having been wetted by a shower; some of them had been mauled by the crabs, and, to finish up, they were all more or less soused with sea-water as we were putting off from the difficult landing. All the time we were on the island there was a deafening clamour 1 Cassin, U. S. Expl. Exped., Mamm. & Orn. p. 394. 2 Finsch and Hartlaub, ' Fauna Oentralpolynesiens,' p. 240. 3 Bennett, loc. cit. 4 Arundel; Tristram, Ibis, 1883, p. 48. 5 Tristram, Ibis, 1881, p. 252. 6 Peale, Zool. U. S. Expl. Exped., Birds, p. 285. 7 Finsch and Hartlaub, loc. cit. 8 Whitniee ; Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 271. PROC ZOOL. Soc-1891, No. XX. 20 |
