Birds of Govgk Island. 249 



miles W. by S. of the Cape of Good Hope and about 

 2000 miles N. by E. of Cape Horn ; and, with the Tristan 

 da Cunha group, which lie over 200 miles to the north- 

 wards, is among the most remote of all Oceanic islands. 

 It is small and uninhabited; of volcanic origin; from 

 seven to eight miles long, and from three to four wide ; 

 and is lofty, rising to a height of 4380 feet. 



The island has been but little visited, except by sealers, 

 Avho, in days gone by, found it worthy of their attention ; 

 and the ' Scotia's ' party were the first naturalists who have 

 ever set foot upon its fastnesses. 



I greatly regret that owing to Mr. Bruce's breakdown 

 in health his notes are not available for incorporation here, 

 but I have to thank his colleagues, Dr. Harvey Pirie and 

 Mr. R. N. Rudmose Brown, for the following description of 

 the island, and also, with Mr. D. W. Wilton, for other 

 valuable information : — 



" Gough Island rises on every side abruptly from the 

 ocean in sheer precipices several hundred feet high. The 

 general aspect of the island, as seen from ship-board, is very 

 beautiful, with its green slopes and moss- and lichen-covered 

 cliffs, over which numbers of rushing waterfalls shoot out 

 into the sea with a drop of several hundred feet. The only 

 apparent landing-place is on the eastern side, where the 

 party from the ' Scotia ' landed. Here a ravine runs down 

 from the interior to the coast and along it flows a small 

 stream. Near the seaward end of this ravine are a few 

 acres of level ground covered with grass or, in the moister 

 parts, with ferns and rankly growing celery and docks. 

 Here, too, is a narrow beach, perhaps a hundred yards long, 

 strewn with many large boulders and numerous fern- 

 rhizomes of considerable size. At the S.W. end of the 

 island there appears to be a plateau of about half a square 

 mile in extent at an elevation of some 300 feet, but every- 

 where else the island rises into steep ridges separated by 

 narrow valleys, which must render its exploration a matter 

 of extreme difficulty. On the lower ground and up to a 

 height of over 1000 feet the island is thicklv covered with 



