64 VOYAGES OF A NATURALIST 



which we saw at no great distance from Tristan 

 da Cunha deserve special mention, because up 

 to the present time no one has succeeded in dis- 

 covering where they breed. 



One of these is the great shearwater,* a well- 

 known visitor to British seas, and I think the only 

 " British " bird whose eggs are now unknown. 

 These birds were seen in some abundance in the 

 neighbourhood of these islands, and in nearly every 

 case there were two individuals, doubtless male 

 and female, together. A few weeks later I ex- 

 amined a skin of the great shearwater in the Cape 

 Town Museum, which had been caught on Inac- 

 cessible Island, and there would seem to be little 

 doubt that this bird breeds on one of these three 

 islands. 



The other petrel which was encountered, not 

 only before we reached Tristan da Cunha but also 

 between that island and the Cape of Good Hope, 

 was CEstrelata incerta, of which very few specimens 

 have ever been obtained. It is about the size 

 of a large pigeon, and of a dull brown on the back 

 with yellowish-brown, almost golden, neck, and 

 white underparts. The three skins in the British 

 Museum were all obtained in the South Atlantic 

 near the Cape of Good Hope, and possibly this 

 bird also nests on one of these three islands. 



As the yacht gradually drew nearer to the 

 islands the number of albatroses increased. The 



* Puffinus gravis. 



