CHAP. 111.] BARIA TO THE CAFE. 145 



inhabitants sometimes go to the top, and they represent the 

 mountain as a cone of ashes, with a hike on the summit. The 

 upper terrace is covered witli long, coarse grass, with a tangled 

 brush of Phylica in the shelter of the ravines. 



Two species of albatross breed on the higher parts of the \q\- 

 ajid, Diomedea exulans and J). chlororhynahus,t\\e former even 

 beyond the summer limit of the snow. A few years ago there 

 were large flocks of goats on the upper terraces, but latterly, 

 from some unknown cause, they have entirely disappeared, and 

 not even the remains of one of them can be found. With the 

 exception of the goat and the pig, and the rat and the mouse, 

 which are known to have been recently introduced, tliere are 

 no land quadrupeds at large on the island ; and the land birds, 

 so far as we know, are confined to three species — a thrash, JSfe- 

 socichla eremita ; a bunting referred by Captain Carmichael to 

 Emberiza Brasilieiuis ; and a singular bird called by the set- 

 tlers the "island hen," which w^as at one time very common, 

 but which is now almost extinct. This is a water-hen, Galli- 

 nula nesiotis (Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1861), very nearly allied 

 to our common English moor-hen {Galllnula chlorojms), which 

 it resembles closely in general appearance and coloring, with, 

 however, several satisfactory specific differences. The wings 

 of the Tristan species are much shorter, and the primary feath- 

 ers, and indeed all the feathers of the wing, are so short and 

 soft as to be useless for the purposes of flight. The breast-bone 

 is short and weak, and the crest low, while, on the other hand, 

 the pelvis and the bones of the lower extremity are large and 

 powerful, and the muscles attached to them strong and full 

 The island hen runs with great rapidity ; it is an inquisitive 

 creature, and comes out of its cover in the long grass when it 

 hears a noise. It is excellent eating, a good quality which has 

 led to its extermination. Mr. Moseley collected between twen- 

 ty and thirty plants on Tristan, perhaps the most interesting 

 a gei'anium {Pelargonium australe, Yar.), a species which ex- 



