BuLLER. — Observations on an Ocean Voyage. 189 



numbers as we lay at our anchorage for several hours, quaran- 

 tined on account of yellow-fever at Eio. 



13th to 15th April.— No birds of any kind. 



16th April. — Whilst in the Bay of Biscay a Stone-chat 

 from the mainland came on board, and remained an hour or 

 two in the rigging. Whales were disporting themselves about 

 the ship, the sea being very calm, but there was a remarkable 

 absence of bird-life. Indeed, we saw nothing more till we 

 reached the English coast. 



Notes made on the Return Voyage from Plymouth to Auck- 

 land, by way of the Cape of Good Hope. 

 ( Siipplementary to Article read on 13th December, 1893.) 



We left Plymouth in tlie E.M.S. " Doric " at 2 p.m. on 

 Saturday, the 27th January, 1894, with a stiff breeze blowing 

 from the S.W. We were fortmiate enough to be again under 

 the command of Captain Kempson, transferred from the 

 " Coptic." This head-wind afterwards changed to W\N.W., 

 and increased in force till it had become a gale in the Bay of 

 Biscay. We had a bad night on the 28th, but the morning of 

 the 29th broke fine, with a light breeze from N.W. to W., 

 and a comparatively calm sea. The Sea-gulls {Lams marinus) 

 which had followed us out from Plymouth, and had stood by 

 us all through the storm in the Bay of Biscay, now suddenly 

 disappeared, and when we were abovit eighty miles from the 

 Spanish coast there was not a wing to be seen of any kind, 

 the only sign of animation being the occasional appearance of a 

 school of small porpoises, plunging madly through the sea. Till 

 our arrival at Tenerilfe, at noon on the 1st February, we saw 

 nothing more ; but on reaching our anchorage at Santa Cruz, 

 with the Peak, more than 15,000ft. in height, full in view, we 

 were again visited by Lams marinus ; and till about noon on 

 the following day we were attended on our voyage by the 

 Grey-backed Gull {Lams cachinnans). For the rest of the day 

 there was not a sign of life on the dreary waste of waters. 

 This may be in a measure due to the season of the year. The 

 last time I traversed this part of the ocean it was summer, 

 and thousands of " Portuguese men-of-war " {Physalia) were 

 floating on the surface of the water or dancing on the waves. 

 On taking one of these curious little animals on board wdth a 

 bucket, it caused much amusement among the passengers by 

 its power of giving off, on being touched, a peculiar electrical 

 shock. The body secretes an acrid fluid, and the long blue 

 threads or filaments cling firmly to the hand on the slightest 

 touch, and sting Uke nettles. 



