186 MUTTON BIRDS 



scene within my ken — its arrivals, departures, 

 and perpetual changes, — I was yet able to count 

 eleven couples simultaneously on their nests, 

 indubitably mated and differing thus in plumage. 

 We left Kane-te-toe with regret, and were 

 never again able to land, prevented on one 

 occasion Avhen well out to sea by a sudden 

 wcsterh^ gale, on another by a roll from the 

 south, that only reached us when the launch was 

 within a couple of miles of the rock. 



