secure from our depredations; for we were unable to procure a further supply. On Long Island we saw several osprey-nests, in one of which were eggs; in another, the half-fledged young of the species. The eggs were about the size of a goose-egg; but, as we had reason to think they were addled, we had no opportunity of testing their fitness for the table. During the whole of one day we observed immense flocks of birds flying in the direction of this island, and on visiting it found the clumps of mangroves literally swarming with small birds about the size of a blackbird, busily engaged in building nests from the kelp which is thrown up by the surf. They seemed to take but little notice of us. We held a consultation, and finally decided that they were fit to be eaten, and, in pursuance of this resolution, began bagging them. This we found but little trouble; all that was necessary being to ascend one of the mangrove trees, and, as the birds wheeled around in circles to more nearly examine our, to them, strange appearance, knock them down left and right. In this way but very few minutes elapsed before we had sufficient for our purposes--two hundred and fifty of the little feathered bipeds being a mess for the ship’s company; and all united in deciding that they made an exceedingly savory stew. We repeated the operation often after having been initiated into their good qualities. Some idea may be formed of the number consumed, when I state that the feathers, which were saved by old Jack, weighed twenty pounds; the old salt in his green old age being determined to have a soft bed to repose his weatherworn limbs upon. To this end he had been collecting feathers during the greater part of the voyage--albatrosses, monimokes, ducks, pigeons, hawks, and whale birds, contributing each their quota to his store. I cannot take leave of this subject without attempting to give some idea of the immense numbers of the birds. I had read of the innumerable flocks of wild pigeons which frequent our Western States, and I had seen at sea immense flocks of various birds migrating to other countries, but I had never formed an estimate that came within many removes of the actual number I here saw. I can indeed liken them to nothing else, as regards number, than a swarm of bees; their bodies obscuring the sun’s light when they passed overhead, and a stone thrown at random never failing to meet a mark. The conchological specimens found on these islands are varied but inelegant; they comprise both descriptions of the nautilus--the true and paper varieties being found in abundance. These shells externally possess but little beauty, but on being sawn apart in a lateral direction, they present a handsome pearly arrangement contained in an air-tight apartment in the base of the shell. A small variety of the cowrie, too, is abundant. There are also periwinkles, scollops, and oysters, all three of which are excellent eating, and, therefore, were in great request with us.