164 Forgotten Feathers. [isf'jan 



as having a name in common, and if so the assertion of Littre 

 that the name " Plongeon " was given to Diving-Petrels is prob- 

 ably correct. On the 24th of January Crozet landed upon an 

 island on which the name He de la Prise de Possession was 

 bestowed, and which either is or is in close proximity to the 

 Possession Island of modern charts. The sea birds which were 

 nesting on it continued to sit and to feed their young in his 

 presence. Here were found Penguins, " Plongeons " (probably 

 Diving-Petrels), Cape Petrels, and Cormorants. 



Let us endeavour to elucidate these observations of Crozet by 

 the light of modern research, whilst we remember that their non- 

 scientific character renders only a wide generalization possible. 

 The Terns to which our author alludes were probably of the 

 species Sterna vittaia, for that bird breeds on St. Paul's and 

 Amsterdam Islands. It has also been observed at the Tristan 

 da Cunha Islands, Gough Island, and Kerguelen Island. The 

 Gulls were probably of the species Lams dominicaims, which has 

 been observed at a considerable distance from any continental 

 land. The Penguins which have been observed in the seas 

 adjacent to the Crozet Islands are Aptenodytes patagonica, 

 Pygoscclis paptia, Catarrhactes cJirysocome, and C. chrysolopJnis. 

 The eggs of the last-named species have been obtained on 

 Crozet Island.* The Diving-Petrel {Pclecanoides cxsid) frequents 

 the seas in the vicinity of the Crozet Islands ; its eggs are still 

 undescribed. The Cape Petrel {Daptwn catensis) is known to 

 breed at the Tristan da Cunha Islands and at Kerguelen Island; 

 its eggs have been found recently.*|- A Cormorant {Pluilacro- 

 corax verrucosus) inhabits Kerguelen Island, but its occurrence 

 on the Crozet Islands is a matter of uncertainty. :]: Finally, a 

 bird was seen which was mistaken for a white Pigeon, and from 

 its presence Crozet naively argued the existence near at hand of 

 a country producing seeds adapted for the sustenance of Pigeons. 

 This bird may have been the Sheath-bill of the Crozet Islands 

 ( Chioiiarchus crozettoisis). 



The duration of Crozet's sojourn in New Zealand was about 

 four months of the autumn and winter of 1772, and the time was 

 spent in the Bay of Islands. Our author presents a goodly 

 array of the names of birds which he saw in that locality, but it 

 would be unprofitable to seek equivalents for his Wheatears and 

 Wagtails, Starlings and Larks, Ousels and Thrushes, as well as 

 for most of the birds which he found in Tasmania — to wit, 

 Ousels, Thrushes, and Turtle-Doves. One exception may be 

 made in respect of black Thrushes with white tufts {grives noires 

 a Jnippes blaucJies). This description evidently refers to the Tui 



* " Catalogue of the Collection of Birds' Eggs in the British Museum," vol. i., p. 



143- 



t The Emu, vol. v., p. 91. 



X " Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum," vol. xxvi., p. 394. 



