^°i^' ] P'ASSET I Il'LL, . Irchipckujo of the Recherche. 285 



island, which is quite small, but high and steep, taking a small 

 seal, a pair of Cape Ijarren Gee->e and Little I'enguins, with two 

 eggs. He also found a number of small burrows, which had been 

 tenanted comparatively recently by the White- faced Storm- 

 Tetrel, a wing and portion of an egg shell being brought off for 

 identification. It would appear that this colony has a much 

 earlier date for breeding than the one on Lion Island. While 

 Wright was on the island I had a fine view of the seals tumbling 

 about on the rocks and i)lunging over the ledges into the water. 

 They came round the dinghy, and one of the Geese wiiich fell 

 into the water was nearly captured by a seal. Grant wmning in 

 the chase literally by a neck ! iVfter getting Wright and his bag 

 off, vve left for Woody Island with a fair wind, arriving there 

 in the afternoon. The Geese were soon skinned, and their bodies 

 went into the pot, making the most delicious stew we had ever 

 tasted, but then we had been without a meal from 6 a.m. to 

 6 p.m. 



Woody Island is one of the lew which have anything in the 

 way of trees on them, a small clum[) of mallee having established 

 itself in a gully and escaped the fires. Here we found old traces 

 of long-deserted IMutton Bird burrows, but there were no Pen- 

 guins or other sea birds. Brush Bronzewings, Brown Quail, 

 Rock Parrots, Yellow-breasted Whistlers, and Singing Honey- 

 eaters were observed. Traps were set, and the weather being 

 fine, Jones brothers stayed on the boat at anchor — this being one 

 of the few islands with any kind of an anchorage — while we 

 camped on shore. Traps were set, and the morning revealed 

 five nice specimens of the local rat, one of which had left his 

 tail in one trap, and his body in another ! This island is used for 

 sheep, and three were seen by us. There is a small artificial 

 waterhole, but the water was too foul for use. A young Pacific 

 Gull was found wandering about on a headland, the parents feed- 

 ing down on the rocks. 



Our water supply having run out, we returned to Esperance 

 and spent a couple of wet days cleaning up and skinning speci- 

 mens. The weather continuing wet and stormy, we did a little 

 exploration of the coastal scrub, and went out to the Pink and 

 Green Lakes, three miles from Esperance. On a fine day these 

 lakes are most brilliantly coloured, the one a deep rosy pink, and 

 the other an emerald green. Both are shallow and salt ; immense 

 quantities of the mineral are taken from the Pink Lake. Large 

 flocks of Red-ca])ped Dotterel were seen on the shores of the 

 lakes, and in the scrub we saw a few immature specimens of 

 the Red-capped Parrot {Purpureicephalus sptirius), Dusky 

 Miner {Mysantha obsciiro), Collared Butcher-Bird (Cracticus 

 torqiiatus), and Black-faced Cuckoo-Shrike. 



We had hoped to get a run down to Figure-of-Eight Island, 

 18 miles south-west, but the wind was against us, and Jones 

 brothers could not guarantee a certain return in time to catch 



