No other bird visited us till after we had left Aden, on Sept. 10th, and were entering the Red Sea on the 12th, when a Hoopoe (Upupa epops) arrived during the night, and was discovered at sunrise. The efforts of a sailor in trying to catch it frightened the bird away, and it failed to return.
Next day, Sept. 13th, a Golden Oriole (Oriolus galbula, female) arrived and settled on top of the awning. This time the sailor did catch it by the tail, which was all the bird left behind in the hands of the astonished tar, and O. galbula flew away southwards, steering a most ungainly and awkward course. No sooner had she gone than a Collared Turtle-Dove (Turtur risorius) arrived and settled on the jibboom, where it stayed till the afternoon, when it also flew off towards some land which was in sight.
The next afternoon, while I was on watch, a Greenfinch (Ligurinus chloris), flying across the Red Sea from east to west, flew in at one of our gunports, across the deck, and out through the opposite port, and was soon lost sight of. I consider this a most odd and unnecessary proceeding, and the bird acted as if it was being pursued by a Hawk, although no such bird was in sight.
Daybreak next morning revealed two Turtle-Doves (Turtur communis), which had, I suppose, been attracted during the night by our lights, and about 9 a.m. they were joined by three more, the whole party remaining with us for the day and sleeping at night, two in the maintop and three on the topsail yard. Next morning, Saturday, the 16th, three of our friends the Turtle-Doves had disappeared, and the remaining two stayed with us all that day, and did not leave till the following forenoon, when the weather, which had been a flat calm, changed, and a fresh breeze sprung up.
Although these two Turtle-Doves (presuming they were the same, an assumption that seems allowable) had been with us over fifty-six hours, they had nothing in the way of food. It causes one to wonder what are a bird's fasting capacities, especially on migration. I tried to tempt them with peas, &c, spread out on the awning, but they refused to come down from aloft.
This afternoon I noticed, through a telescope, a flock of between forty and fifty birds, which I believed to be Greenfinches (L. chloris); but they were rather brightly coloured, and may
