Chap, ix.] BIRDS OF THE ISLAND. I99 



Pigeons {Daption capensis) and Prions in astonishing numbers. 

 The Prions were on the wing in the usual manner, in dense 

 flocks ; the Pigeons, called sometimes by the sealers " Egli 

 Bird," were mostly feeding on the water at the mouth of the 

 glacier stream. They were breeding in holes in the low 

 basaltic cliffs. 



On the same cliffs was a rookery of Shags. They appeared 

 much whiter than the Kerguelen birds, a broad band of white 

 passing round the body, under the wings and across the back. 

 They were probably of the same species {Phalacrocorax verru- 

 cosus) which is described as developing in New Zealand a 

 broad white band at the close of the breeding season.* The 

 sealers had remarked that the Heard Island Shag was whiter 

 than the Kerguelen one. The season at Heard Island may 

 have been more advanced, or a change of plumage may take 

 place earlier ; for from the sealers' remark it would appear that 

 the Heard Island birds differ in their amount of development 

 of white from the Kerguelen ones.f 



On a steep talus slope leading down from the broken-down 

 crater already described, to the sea, was a large penguin 

 rookery, from which the sealers drew their supplies. A tern, 

 the same as one of the Kerguelen species, was nesting on the 

 terminal moraine of the glacier at the head of the harbour. 

 The sealers call it " King-bird " or " Kinger." I saw brooded 

 eggs. The gull of Kerguelen's Land {Larus dominicanus) 

 was very abundant. It was curious for the first time to see 

 gulls perched upon a glacier. The only other birds which I 

 saw were the Skua {Stercorarius Antarcticus) and the Giant 

 Petrel {Ossifraga giga?itea), and a Stormy Petrel {Oceanitis sp.), 

 which was very abundant. The "Sheath-bill" {C/iionis) was 

 said by the sealers to be common in the island ; I saw one 

 only. 



The only insects which I saw were the large apterous fly of 

 Kerguelen's Land, which shelters itself, as there, in the heart 

 of the wild cabbage, and a single dead specimen of a small 

 beetle, found amongst the Azorella, which unfortunately I 

 lost. 



I had only three hours' time on shore. 1 was busy hunting 

 for insects when I saw the Captain signalling for a return ; and 

 picking up the biggest Sea-Elephant skull which I could find, 

 and knocking a few tusks out of some others, to keep as me- 



* "Trans. N. Zealand Inst.,'" Vol. V., p. 224. 



t Messrs. Sclater and Salvin separate Phalacrocorax imperialis from 

 P. verrucosus, because of the development in it, and not in the latter, of 

 white on the back. It is unfortunate that no specimens could be got in 

 Heard Island. " Proc. Zool. Soc.,"' 1878, p. 650. 



