178 MUTTON BIRDS 



species seen. The sedum, then just beginning 

 to bloom, a miserable dwarf, brown-green, 

 depauperated moss, and the cotyledons of a 

 mesembryanthemum, probably Australe, made 

 up the vegetation of the rock. 



The space, occupied by this community of 

 birds, is parcelled into three portions, each of 

 which has its own use and purpose, and each of 

 which is devoted to certain classes of the 

 commonwealth. The main rock, upon which we 

 landed, is unevenly and roughly terraced, and 

 its altitudes occupied by the older and more 

 experienced breeders. Towards the southern 

 edge of these nesting grounds, where the land 

 slopes off into almost unbroken and smooth slabs 

 of granite, is the Alsatia of Kane-te-toe, wholly 

 given over to thieving and riots, where might is 

 right, and where only present possession is 

 respected. To the north-west dwell the young- 

 sters of the season, fully fledged and of varying 

 ages, and thereabouts the crags and ledges are 

 densely peopled by these immature citizens. It 

 is their school, playground, and particular home. 



The area used by the breeders may be one 

 hundred and eighty feet by eighty feet, and 

 probably maintains four or five hundred nests. 

 Each nest is a squat, compact pillar, 

 the base probably years old and formed 

 of consolidated sea-wrack and guano. The top 

 of each pillar is slightly concave, and there, 

 on a bed of fouled seaweed, lie the eggs or young. 

 The nests are equidistant and tend to form rows, 

 just as in planting trees at regular distances, 

 straight lines develop themselves. Automatic- 

 ally therefore lanes have been formed alleys 

 along which the centremost birds have to venture 

 when about to leave their breeding quarters. 



