B 
the Island of Tristan da Cunha, 4c. 497 
garden, nipping off the young plants as soon as they appeared 
above ground: but their ordinary food are the larve of certain 
species of Phalena, and the berries of the Empetrum and Nerteria. 
Of aquatic birds there is great abundance. I have already 
mentioned four species of Diomedea. There are six species of 
Procellaria, among which are the P. gigantea, cinerea, and vittata. 
The last, and the other three, which are smaller, are night birds, 
never appearing on wing until after sun-set. They may be caught 
in any number by kindling a large fire of wood. Attracted by 
the light, they approach and flutter round it, like so many moths 
round a candle, till at length the greater number of them, dazzled 
by the glare, plunge into the flame and perish. The Larus Cata- 
ractes is the common tyrant of all the smaller birds, and destroys 
them in multitudes. There are two species of Sterna, the S. sto- 
lida, and one which varies very little from the S. Hirundo. The 
former builds in the trees, and lays a solitary egg. I never saw 
the nest of the latter. | 
The Crested Penguin (Aptenodytes chrysocoma) conceals itself 
among the long grass, and in the bottoms of the ravines where 
they open upon the shore. Here they assemble in countless mul- 
titudes, and keep up a moaning noise which can be heard at a 
great distance; and, combined with the roar of the surge re-echoed 
from the mountain, and the bold inhospitable coast around you, 
is calculated to excite a train of ideas by no means pleasant. It 
is owing perhaps to the scantiness of its plumage that the pen- 
guin swims heavier than any other bird, no part of it except the 
head appearing above the water. This gives it undoubtedly a 
peculiar facility of diving and pursuing its prey under the water. 
With the same view, perhaps, its eyes appear to be uncommonly 
sensible to the stimulus of light. In every bird that I had an op- 
portunity of examining the pupil was contracted to a mere dot. 
There are no reptiles of any kind on the island : and the only 
insects 
