22 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXV. 



Owing to the young petrels being simply balls of oily fat, 

 the natives in some parts of the South Seas utilize them to light 

 up their huts. This is accomplished by passing a rush up through 

 their bodies, which serves as a wick, and so an excellent candle 

 is formed. After a time, when its feathers have developed 

 sufficiently, the burrowling is deserted by its parents and left to 

 itself. Each night the young bird takes to wandering and flap- 

 ping around the rookery, prompted by the pangs of hunger, and 

 after about a week of this life, during which time it assimilates its 

 heavy lining of fat, it grows lighter, and gains both confidence 

 and muscular development, until one night it takes wing with 

 the adult birds, who no doubt guide and assist it at sea until it is 

 able to help itself. These birds derived their name from the 

 Apostle Peter, because, when ranging the ocean, they go tripping 

 along over the billows, using their feet as well as their wings to 

 propel themselves forward. This action makes them appear as 

 if they were walking on the water, after the manner of the 

 Apostle, as related in the Bible. 



Whilst I had been taking observations at the petrelry, the 

 Gannets had been keeping up an incessant cackling on the heights 

 above, but as the moon rose higher and higher their stridulations 

 gradually ceased, and as the moonlight glinted on the plumage of 

 the now silent birds they formed, as they squatted in one huge mass 

 on the crown of Lawrence Rock, a veritable night-cap, gleaming 

 white in the pale rays of the moonbeams as the rock slumbered 

 for a while in the hush that followed. " When you are in Rome 

 do as the Romans do " is an old but apt saying ; being a stranger 

 to Lawrence Rock, and desiring to be respectful to its ways, I 

 decided to conform with its habits, so I looked for a spot whereon 

 I could lie down to slumber also. The only flat place available 

 that was covered with sufficient soil to soften the rocks, and where 

 one could lie down without rolling, was a narrow track close to 

 the penguin rookery. Wrapping myself in my " bluey," I lay 

 down in the open, and was lulled to sleep by the steady roar of 

 the ocean. Just as I was dozing off I had a sensation of creeping 

 and crawling all over me. It appears that I had camped on a 

 sea-bird track, and the place was alive with lice which infest sea- 

 birds, and which drop from them and find a home in the loose 

 soil until they can find a host again. It was no use trying to rid 

 oneself of them, since there were plenty more to take their place, 

 and as I was badly in need of some sleep I decided to lie down 

 again and allow these obnoxious creatures to please themselves. 



Presently I heard a noise as if someone was singing on the 

 rocks below. Since 1 was situated high up and could see all 

 over the side of the rock, as well as the surrounding sea, which 

 was lit up by the bright moonlight, I carefully scanned the place, 

 but could not discern any other human being. Could it be the 



