32 New Zealand Birds in 1772 



Edward Island. Near it a collision with the Mascarin caused the 

 partial disablement of the Marquis de Castries ; the search for a 

 southern continent was therefore abandoned, and it was resolved 

 to visit the countries which had been discovered by Tasman in 

 the seventeenth century. 



Crozet's first observation relating to sea-birds was made on 

 the 8th of January, 1772, about twelve days after leaving the 

 Cape of Good Hope. Terns were then in view, and thereafter, 

 until the 13th of that month, Terns and Gulls were frequently 

 seen. Shortly after the latter date Du Clesmeur, who was in 

 command of the Marquis de Castries^ sighted another island which 

 was named He de la Prise de Possession, and which has been 

 renamed Marion Island, Crozet landed upon it, and relates 

 that the sea-birds which were nesting upon it continued to sit on 

 their eggs or to feed their young regardless of his presence. 

 There were amongst the birds penguins, Cape petrels (' damiers'), 

 and cormorants. Crozet also mentions divers — ' plongeons.' It 

 is doubtful to what birds he alludes under this name — a name 

 which is usually applied to the Colymbidas, a family which has 

 no representative in the seas of the southern hemisphere. 



The terns which Crozet saw were probably of the species 

 Sterna vittata^ which breeds on the islands of St. Paul and 

 Amsterdam. It also frequents the Tristan da Cunha Group, and 

 Gough Island and Kerguelen Island, so that it enjoys a wide 

 distribution in the Southern Ocean. The gulls may have been 

 Dominican Gulls {Larus dominicanus)^ which are to be found at a 

 considerable distance from any continental land. The penguins 

 which frequent the seas adjacent to the islands which Marion 

 named He de la Caverne, lies Froides, and He Aride are Aptenodytes 

 patagonica^ Pygoscelis papua^ Catarrhactes chrysocome, and Catar- 

 rhactes chrysolophus. The eggs of the last-named penguin have 



