size. It was built with sticks upon the ground, and was no
less than 26 feet in circumference, and two feet eight inches high."* An
American professor** conjectures the above nest to have possibly been
that of the Dinornis, the gigantic New Zealand bird, known only by its
fossil remains. A very slight knowledge, however, of ornithology, would
be sufficient to confute the notion of any struthious bird constructing a
nest of this kind, or of a wingless land bird of great size inhabiting an
islet only a quarter of a mile in length. Both Mr. Gould and myself have
seen nests of the same construction, the work of the large fishing-eagle
of Australia.

(*Footnote. Hawkesworth's Voyages volume 2 page 599.)

(**Footnote. In Silliman's Journal for July 1844.)

This island is low and sandy, with a few casuarinas, or she-oaks, a
fringe of Suriana maritima, some Tournefortiae, and thickets of
Clerodendrum inerme. Landrail and other birds were numerous. The reef,
which is very extensive, did not dry throughout at low-water, but some
sandbanks along its lee margin were exposed, and upon them I found the
greatest assemblage of pretty shells that I ever met with at one place.
What would not many an amateur collector have given to spend an hour
here? There were fine Terebrae in abundance, orange-spotted mitres,
minutely-dotted cones, red-mouthed Strombi, glossy olives, and
magnificent Naticae, all ploughing up the wet sand in every
direction--yet, with two exceptions, they are to be seen in every
collection in Europe.

FIND A HUMAN SKULL.

As usual we found plentiful remains of recent turtle feasts. One of the
boat's crew, not over-stocked with brains, during his rambles picked up a
human skull with portions of the flesh adhering. Accidentally learning
this from the conversation of the men at our bivouac during supper,
inquiry was made, when we found that he had foolishly thrown it into the
sea, nor could it be found during a subsequent search. I was anxious to
determine whether it was aboriginal or not. On the one hand, the natives
of all parts of Australia usually evince the strongest desire to bury or
conceal their own dead; on the other, there might have been some
connection between the skull and the remains of a hut of European
construction, portions of clothing, a pair of shoes, some tobacco, and
fragments of a whaleboat seen here. But all is mere conjecture.

HOWICK ISLES.

August 14th.

After leaving Lizard Island, we