AND OTHER BIRDS 177 



legs just the colour of washerwomen's hands. 

 When cessation of flight was first contemplated, 

 the legs began to drop from their horizontal 

 position and at last hung downwards; finally, 

 in alighting, they were thi'ust forward with the 

 webbed feet fully outstretched and upturned, as 

 if designed to act as brakes, and just as a man 

 extends his palms in warning. The water is 

 breasted in a rushing splash and with pinions 

 high held above the chance of wet. Then, in 

 motions at first easy to follow, the great wings 

 close. At last with touches gentle as caresses and 

 smoothing each other down, they lock in repose. 



These Mollymawk, although probably imma- 

 ture birds of the first season, were, when thus 

 seen close, very lovely, in their white caps, necks 

 of shades of smoky greys, and darker wings. 

 Their beaks were of yellow and dark horn, the 

 pattern fitting properly only when the bills were 

 closed, the wedge of dark horn extending over 

 the lower part of the upper, and the upper part 

 of the lower, mandible. 



No fresh attempt to land on the rock was made 

 until the 10th October; but upon that date we 

 were successful. The sky was without a cloud, 

 and from Half Moon Bay to Kane-te-toe, the sea 

 was as nearly dead calm as it ever can be in 

 these parts. Even the heat, radiated from the 

 naked rock, was tem]3ered by the cool ocean all 

 around. Without mishap, our gear was hauled 

 and handed up, and the glorious day inaugurated, 

 b}^ the discovery, on a pressed and moulded bed 

 of green sedum, of a Skua's egg, over which the 

 parent birds furiously swooped. 



This pair of Skua and a few Kittiwakes doing 

 scavenger work were, except the Shags, the only 



