458 MR. W. B ALEXANDER ON THE 



voyage (2) Stokes mentions hair-seals seen at Pelsart Island and Rat Island, 

 the latter obtaining its name from " the quantity of that vermin with which 

 it was infested." The Wallaby Islands derived their name likewise from the 

 number of those animals found on them, and Stokes remarks specially that 

 not a single wallaby was found on North Island. < )n Hat Island they 

 obtained numbers of a lizard, named Silubosaurus stokesii by J. E. Gray in 

 the appendix to the volume. One of these Lieut. Emery brought alive to 

 England. The Pigeon Islands were so named because " the common Bronze- 

 wino-ed Pigeon " was found there in great numbers. The burrows of the 

 Sooty Petrel or Mutton-bird are mentioned as abundant on Rat Island and 

 the south-west side of West Wallaby Island. Stokes remarks that the birds 

 met with on Houtman's Abrolhos, with the exception of one resembling in 

 shape and colour a small quail (Hemipodius scintillans, Gld.) numerous on 

 North Island, were known and common on the mainland. 



In 1842 Gould's collector, John Gilbert, visited the islands, and wrote 

 a vivid account of the nesting-habits of some of the sea-birds. He also seems 

 to have made large collections of the reptiles etc., which are now in the 

 British Museum. 



In 1889 the group was visited by Mr. A. J. Oampbell, who wrote an 

 account of the fauna (3), partly from information given him by Mr. Broad- 

 hurst, whose firm had commenced working the guano, and by Mr. Beddoes, 

 the firm's manager on the islands. 



In 1894 Mr. 0. Lipfert spent three months at the Abrolhos at the in- 

 vitation of Mr. Broadhurst, collecting for the Western Australian Museum. 

 I have to thank Mr. Lipfert for lending me a manuscript list of the birds 

 that he found nesting. 



In 1897 Mr. R. Helms paid a short visit to the islands accompanied by 

 Mr. Lipfert, and in 1902 an account of his visit was published (4). He 

 added somewhat to the list df birds given by Campbell. In 1899 the islands 

 were visited by Mr. R. Hall, who published a list of the birds (5), adding a 

 few 7 not recorded by Helms. 



In 1907 the Abrolhos Islands were visited by a party, amongst whom were 

 Messrs. Milligan, Oonigrave, and Gibson. The last wrote an account of the 

 birds met with (6). Specimens obtained by Milligan and Oonigrave are in 

 the W. A. Museum. 



I visited the islands with Prof. Dakin in November 1913, with funds 

 provided by the Percy Sladen Trust, and, where not otherwise mentioned, 

 the observations hereafter recorded were made on that visit *. Mr. J. 

 McMillan, who accompanied us, gave valuable assistance on this expedition. 



* [This was the first Percy Sladen Trust expedition to the Abrolhos Islands, the second 

 was made in 1915.— W. J. D.] 



