^°\iP] I'.ASSET HULL, Archipelago of the Recherche. 281 



high granite shoulder, Wright approached qviite close, and se- 

 cured the animal, killing it with one shot. Grant was then sent 

 to assist in removing the skin, a task that was accomplished with 

 considerable ditViculty, the seas washing up to the body, and 

 threatening to sweep it away. As the last ligament was severed, 

 a wave came up, and the great carcase rolled back with it. The 

 skin was then hauled out of reach of the waves, and an inspec- 

 tion of the island commenced. The dinghy was run up on a 

 ledge, Grant and the crew of two going up the rocks, while 

 Wright went after two smaller seals further round the island. 

 Grant soon found a colony of White-faced Storm-Petrels in their 

 burrows, each bird sitting on its egg. Many of these were quite 

 fresh, and others showed slight progress in incubation. The 

 burrows were in hundreds, every available patch of soil in the 

 gullies being taken up. The Nankeen Night Herons had their 

 nests on the ground between a hedge-like growth of wmd-shorn 

 scrub and the face of the great granite cap. There were about 

 forty nests, each containing two young birds in varying stages 

 of growth, one nest with two eggs, which proved to be about 

 one-third incubated, and one w-ith three young birds. Grant also 

 saw two pairs of Black-cheeked Falcons, and discovered their 

 nests on ledges away down the cliff on the western or seaward 

 side of the island. Both nests contained two eggs, but were quite 

 inaccessible. Sooty Oyster Catchers were also seen on the island. 

 Larry Sinclair informed me that he had seen Owls in the caves 

 on this island, but none were there on the occasion of our visit. 

 The wind hauled round to the south-east in the afternoon, 

 and blowing in directly on our anchorage, I decided not to at- 

 tempt to land, and called off my party. The loading and trans- 

 port of the heavy skins was a ticklish task, the cranky dinghy 

 nearly sinking when launched from the ledge, but eventually all 

 hands got safely on board the boat, and we left for Esperance, 

 arriving towards dusk. On the way we passed the Limpet Rock, 

 a typical Recherche islet, conical in shape, swept by every wave 

 up its sloping sides to a height of from five to fifteen feet or 

 more. A black strip showed the wave limit, covered with a slip- 

 pery coating of algae and studded with the gigantic Limpet shell 

 (Patella net/lecta) and jagged barnacles. 



This first trip convinced me that the "motor" was useless, and 

 as the boat was otherwise unsuited to a long voyage, I cancelled 

 the engagement, and arranged with the owners of the only other 

 boat, Messrs Jones brothers, to take us for the rest of our ex- 

 pedition. Their boat was a 24-ft. sailing boat, roomy and well- 

 found, but the want of a motor was a very great drawback, and 

 resulted in restricting our operations to what is known as the 

 "Inner Ring" of islands. 



Mr. Wharton White called on me, and a conversation soon 

 showed me that his accounts of the fauna were based on the ex- 

 periences of twenty years ago. Since then there have been 



