CHAP. III.] BAHIA TO THE CAPE. 15T 



The holes of the larger petrel are like rabbit - burrows, and 

 those of the other two birds are smaller. They have the en- 

 trances usually more or less concealed, and it is odd to hear the 

 chirping of the birds, old and young, muffled by the layer of 

 soil above them, all among one's feet. According to the Stol- 

 tenhoffs, the petrels come to tlie land in large numbers in the 

 beginning of Sej)tember, having previously been at sea, fishing, 

 when they pair and prepare the burrows for their nests. They 

 disappear for a time in the beginning of October, and return 

 early in November, when the female at once lays a single long- 

 shaped white egg, about the size of a duck's, in the burrow. 

 The young are hatched in the beginning of December. The 

 full-grown bird has a rank taste, which is even communicated 

 to the eggj but the young are good eating. The smaller petrel, 

 a bluish-gray bird, is not much larger than Thalassiclro7na Wil- 

 son i ,' it breeds in company with the Prion, in old holes of the 

 larger petrel or in smaller special burrows. The smaller petrel 

 and the Prion fly chiefly at night or very early morning, and 

 are called, at Tristan, " night-birds." The egg of the Prion is 

 white, and about the size of a house-pigeon's. 



After passing the wood the ground becomes more level, and 

 here the Stoltenhoffs had made a clearing for a potato plot and 

 a vegetable garden. It was a bad season for vegetables, but 

 our blue-jackets carried off a boat-load of cabbages and radishes 

 before the establishment was broken up. They likewise rifled 

 a little hut in the garden, where a large supply of fresh pen- 

 guins' eggs was stored. Many thrushes and finches were perch- 

 ing on the low trees about, and they were so tame tliat we had 

 no difficulty in knocking down several with our sticks, to get 

 uninjured specimens for stuffing. Both birds are constantly 

 on the island. The thrush builds in the tussock-grass, a couple 

 of feet from the ground, in the beginning of October, and lays 

 usually two eggs — brown spots on a pale greenish ground, very 

 like those of the common blackbird : the finch builds in the 



