DISCREPANCIES. 



brief occupation, lasting only for a few weeks in 

 the year, appears to be the only link which con- 

 nects these pelagic freebooters with the earth. 

 Pelicans, gannets, boobies, cormorants, frigate- 

 birds, tropic-birds, albatrosses, fulmars, skuas, 

 petrels, gulls, terns, puffins, and multitudes of 

 other tribes throng to such bare rocks in the sea- 

 son, in countless hosts, making the desolation 

 horridly alive. Such a scene as ensues when man 

 intrudes on it has been vividly depicted by Le 

 Vaillant. "All of a sudden, there arose from the 

 whole surface of the island an impenetrable cloud, 

 which formed, at the distance of forty feet above 

 our heads, an immense canopy, or rather a sky, 

 composed of birds of every species, and of all 

 colours: cormorants, sea-gulls, sea-swallows, peli- 

 cans, and I believe, the whole winged tribe of that 

 part of Africa, were here assembled. All their 

 voices, mingled together, and modified according 

 to their different kinds, formed such a horrid 

 music, that I was every moment obliged to cover 

 my head to give a little relief to my ears. The 

 alarm which we spread was so much the more 

 general among those innumerable legions of birds, 

 as we principally disturbed the females which were 

 then sitting. They had nests, eggs, and young to 

 defend. They were like furious harpies let loose 

 against us, and their cries rendered us almost 

 deaf. They often flew so near us, that they 

 flapped their wings in our faces, and though we 

 fired our pieces repeatedly, we were not able to 

 frighten them : it seemed almost impossible to dis- 

 perse this cloud." 



How utterly desolate such insular rocks are is 

 well illustrated by what Mr. Darwin says of St. 

 Paul's cluster, situated in the midst of the Atlan- 

 tic, under the equator. At a distance these rocks 

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