"See this fellow," said Danks, kicking one with his boot. "It's what they call a hawk bill, they are not fit to eat, but tortoise-shell is obtained from them and that makes them valuable. The others are green turtle. They are all right." "How much do you think this one weighs?" asked Jack, pointing to a larger one than most of the others. "It will not be far off three hundred pounds weight," answered Phil. Jack gasped in astonishment, he had no idea they were so heavy. "The bulk of them average at least a couple of hundred pounds I should say," remarked Hake Moss. It was no easy matter to get them into the boats, but they succeeded after some difficulty, and the dinghies were almost level with the water. "We had better put all the turtle in one dinghy and tow her back," said Jack. "A good idea, we will," replied Phil, and they set to work again until the boat was filled, they then turned the other turtles over, and were about to row back to the schooners, when a screeching attracted their attention and they saw large flocks of birds hovering about the tops of the rocks. "Melton birds and gulls," said Phil, "we may as well have some fresh eggs now we are about it; I reckon there'll be enough to satisfy a whole fleet over there," and he pointed to a long stretch of sand in which hundreds of them were settling. It was a curious sight to see these thousands of birds on the sands, and they did not appear to be at all frightened of the visitors to their haunt. They got out of the dinghies again and walked towards them. On their approach a few of the birds rose and whirled around, uttering hoarse cries. But the greater number remained still on their nests, or walked slowly about amongst the stones. Jack was amused at them, and as he walked, he had frequently to push them out of the way with his foot. There were thousands of eggs, and they filled two large sacks with them, choosing those which were apparently freshly laid. It was not difficult to tell them as they were perfectly clean, and had a peculiar sticky feel, quite unlike the eggs that had been sat upon. "Are the birds fit to eat?" asked Jack. "Melton birds are not bad, the others are no good, a man must be fairly on the verge of starvation to tackle them," replied Moss. "There does not appear to be much fear of starving here," laughed Jack. "Perhaps not, but the diet would soon become monotonous," replied Harry. It was time to return to the schooners, as they had been absent all day, and it was not advisable to leave them for a longtime. It was tedious work running out of the bay, and rather dangerous, as the tide was much lower and here and there sharp pieces of coral stood out of the water. Had one of the boats struck on such a projection it would have speedily ripped open the bottom, or the side. Phil Danks, however, was a careful steerer and navigated them into the open sea, the dinghy in tow having one or two narrow escapes.