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ON THE BREEDING OF SOME SEA BIRDS ON THE 

 ACTiEON AND ADJACENT SLETS. 



;[ 



By Col. W. V. Legge, R.A., F.Z.S. 



On the 31st October and tlie 28th November last year I 

 visited the Actseons, touching on the fir?^ occasion at 

 Southport Island, and, on the second, at th^ ilanche Rock, 

 of shipwreck notoriety. The object of my visit was to gain 

 information on the breeding of our sea birds on these out-of- 

 the-way islets, and the following notes purport to give an 

 account of the nesting of the few species which were found 

 on them. A few words descriptive of the islets may not be 

 out of place. 



Southport Island is a low, grass covered tract, lying about 

 half-a-mile off, and in line with the southern head of South- 

 port. It is, taking a rough estimate, about 500 yards long 

 by 200 broad, of an oval shape, with a tolerably regular- 

 coast-line, and rising on its southern side to an altitude o/ 

 about 60 feet. This side is tolerably steep, and, in fact, 

 almost precipitous at the western end, where there is a little 

 reft or cove indenting the steep face to a depth of about 15 

 yards, its sides at the top clothed with bushes (out of which 

 I roused a fine immature Sea Eagle, H. Zeztco^asitij'), and at 

 the bottom a pebbly floor, up which the water rushes as the 

 swell rolls in to land. The northern side slopes down to a 

 boulder-strewn shore, which becomes more rocky at the 

 eastern point of the island. Long grass and brackens, mixed 

 with occasional Barilla bushes, clothe the surface of the 

 island, and snakes are said to be unpleasantly abundant 

 on it. 



To the south of the island, and standing out of deep water, 

 is the Blanche Rock, a pinnacle of about 40 feet in height, 

 and of very unpleasant notoriety in having been the means^of 

 sending the good ship Blanche to the bottom many years 

 ago. This rock, like other isolated points not far from the 

 land, is frequented by numbers of Cormorants, P. leucogaster, 

 which breed there in company with a few small Gulls, 

 L. NovcB Hollandice, and an occasional Pacific Gull, 

 ]j. Pacificus. 



The Actaeon Islands lie four miles to the south of Southport 

 Isla^nd, and about two from the mainland ; they are divided 

 into two groups, the southern one one and a-half miles from 

 the northern, and called in the map the Sterile Islands, 

 although they are locally known as the Little Actseons. 

 There is one isle in each group, the rest being mere rocks and 

 of small extent. The Great Actseon consists of three pear- 



