1 86 SOME BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA 



open sea, and a good lighthouse is here a necessity, 

 where the waves dash against the rocks with a con- 

 tinuous roar. 



I was rather anxious to go to Bird Island ; not that 

 I anticipated much pleasure from the voyage itself, but 

 because I knew that if I were lucky enough to happen 

 on a day when it was at all calm, I could get some good 

 photographs of the Gannets, which resort to this island 

 every year in countless thousands to breed. Conse- 

 quently I set about making enquiries. 



Major Blank, I was told, was the only man who 

 could give me leave to go there, accordingly I tried to 

 find Major Blank. There are some men who are easily 

 accessible, while others seem to do all they can to put 

 stumbling blocks in one's way and to surround their 

 whereabouts with profound mystery ; of the latter class 

 of men was Major Blank. I think I need hardly enter 

 into a description of my search after the Major, who 

 concealed himself in a very small room in the centre of 

 an immense block of buildings, which seemed to contain 

 endless staircases and endless small doors, over which 

 were written almost every name one could think of 

 except " Blank." It will be enough to say that after 

 roaming about for half an hour in these buildings, I had 

 not only failed to discover the whereabouts of Major 

 Blank, but had also succeeded in losing myself. I began 

 to class him as a sort of human Hammerkop, for like 

 that mysterious bird, his home, though very much in 

 evidence, was exceedingly difficult to get into. At 

 length I met someone who offered to put me on the 

 right track, and I forthwith found myself in the desired 

 room. The Major was writing with a scratchy quill 



