Birds of Kerguelen Island. 27 



essaying jumps on to Azorella-cXwva.^'s, of 2 feet in height. 

 Several pairs, with stretched necks, appeared to he engaged 

 in controversy, and occasionally a low squeaking noise was 

 uttered. On first sight of me they moved toward the edge 

 of the cliff ; but when I sat down within 100 yards of them, 

 they became more confiding, and many gradually approached 

 me, not flying, and without noise. Both young and old 

 seemed to be inquisitive, but a gun shot half a mile away 

 would cause them to look shy for a minute. After a rest, 

 which they often took by sitting down, they would come a 

 little nearer. Occasionally a bird would fly over with a 

 prolonged guttural croak. There were from 50 to 70 of 

 them, and by appearances many young birds were already 

 abroad at this date (January 7th). As I drove them to the 

 beach I stumbled upon quite a strange sight : it was their 

 rookery, and some twenty-one grey fledgelings, as large as 

 full-grown Geese, were nestling among the scattered tussocks 

 of AzoreUa. The nest was made by tearing away the soft 

 stems of this plant and then sitting upon them. 



On approaching a bird, which was always a few yards apart 

 from its fellows, it would utter a low grunt, bite, and stand 

 upon the defensive, ejecting a quantity of oily matter that 

 would ruin almost any suit of clothes. The adults preferred 

 to run along the cliff-top rather than fly, and I drove them 

 like any other fowls. They have no confidence in taking 

 wing from the land, but do so at once on reaching the 

 water. This rookery faces the entrance to Royal Sound, 

 and is about 200 feet above sea-level. The birds possibly 

 lay in September. The nests, some 3 feet in diameter, are 

 merely hollows among the broken stems of AzoreUa and in 

 the sand, and in the former the young are partially hidden 

 and sheltered. The rookery extended for some 200 yards. 



I found several young birds which had just lost their grey 

 down, and had assumed a shining black plumage, a phase 

 on which I know of no observations. I do not see why this 

 coat should be exchanged later on for what is a very poor 

 one in comparison. I also saw this black phase 800 miles 

 east of Kerguelen, on the return to home (February 22nd). 



