i66 kerguelen's land. 



this instinct where there are no four-footed or human enemies ; 

 possibly she finds it a successful ruse when the brood is 

 attacked by the Skuas. 



The young must constantly fall a prey to these ever-watchful 

 Skuas, for in most cases I found only a single young one fol- 

 lowing the mother. There were no young met with in the 

 condition of flappers, and the general breeding season was 

 probably only about to begin, as it was with many birds of 

 the island. The greater part of the birds were yet in flocks. 



The flat stretch of land at the head of Christmas Harbour is 

 covered with a thick rank growth of grass {Festiica Cookii), and 

 a Composite herb with feathery leaves and yellow flower [Cotula 

 phnnosa), also with Azorella as at Marion Island, with Accena 

 Montiafontana and Callitriche verna about the dampest places. 

 The soil is black and peaty and saturated with water. It is 

 almost impossible to find anything to burn ; the Azorella is the 

 only thing that will burn, and sometimes pieces of this may 

 be found that are dry enough, in places where the Azorella 

 bunches overhang small precipices, and the water can thus 

 drip away. 



The feature which distinguishes the general appearance of 

 the vegetation of Christmas Harbour from that of Marion 

 Island is the presence of the Kerguelen Cabbage in large 

 quantities. The plant grows on the slopes and bases of the 

 cliffs in thick l)eds. The cabbage is in appearance like a small 

 garden cabbage, but often with a long trailing stalk. It is, 

 however, not annual, but perennial, and the flowering stalks, 

 instead of coming out from the centre of the head, come out 

 laterally from the sides of the stalks between the leaves. 



The old flower stalks die and wither, but do not drop off. 1 

 counted on one cabbage at Betsy Cove 28 flowering stalks, of 

 different ages ; three of them only being of the current year's 

 growth and fresh. They appeared to belong to eight successive 

 years. The cabbage about Christmas Harbour was either in 

 flower or green fruit, mostly the latter. It was only to the 

 south of the island, about Royal Sound, that ripe seed was met 

 with \ but there, especially at Mutton Cove, it was abundant. 

 The cabbage {Pringlea antiscorbuticd), which like the familiar 

 vegetable is a cruciferous plant, is peculiar to the Prince 

 Edward, Crozets, Kerguelen and Heard Islands, and belongs 

 to a genus with no near ally. 



Crawling about the heart of the cabbages, and sheltering 

 there, are to be found swarms of the curious wingless fly, like- 

 wise peculiar to Kerguelen's Land, and islands where the 

 cabbage is found. The fly {Calycopterix Moseleyi, Eaton) is 

 sinijily a long-legged brown fly, with very minute rudimentary 



