Gough, Kerguelen, and South Georgia Islands. 463 



saw but did not obtain. The most interesting of these observations 

 are those concerning the presence of small passerine birds at Gough 

 Island and Kerguelen. He states that small birds, like sparrows, are 

 very common on Gough Island. He describes two kinds, one, slatish 

 above, yellowish beneath and with a round black spot on the breast; 

 the other is much like the first but lacks the black spot, possibly it is 

 the female. Of their habits he simply says that they are very com- 

 mon and very tame and that they sing. At Kerguelen Island he 

 says there is also a small sparrow-like bird which he thinks is different 

 from those at Gough Island (as it in all probability is), but says they 

 are not nearly so common as those at the latter island. 



This is very interesting and I greatly regret that he did not pro- 

 cure any specimens, for no passerine bird has ever been recorded 

 from Kerguelen and several authors have stated very decidedly that 

 none exist there.* From the Tristan da Cunha Group three passerine 

 birds have been described,! namely : 



Nesospiza acunhce Cab./ from Inaccessible Island, said to be extinct at Tristan itself. 

 Nesocichla eremita Gould, ^ from Tristan and Inaccessible Islands. 

 Crithagra insularis Cab.,^ said to be from Inaccessible Island but some doubt exists 

 as to its being from this group. It was not taken there by the " Challenger." 



^ Cab., Journ. fiir Ornith., 1873, p. 154 ; Scl., Voy. Chal., Zool., vol. ii, p. 112, pi. xxiv. 

 2 Gould, P. Z. S., 1855, p. 165; Scl., ibid., I8t8, p. 577 ; id., Voy. Chal., Zool, vol. 

 ii, p. Ill, pi. xxiii. 



Mr. Comer has seen the excellent colored plates of the first two 

 birds above mentioned, in the Report on the " Challenger " expedi- 

 tion and said they were different from any he had seen, so that the 

 birds of Gough Island and Kerguelen are without much doubt 

 unknown species. 



Of the cormorant, Phalocrocorax verrucosus Cab. ?, common at 

 Kerguelen, Mr. Comer did not bring home any specimens, but men- 

 tions it in his notes with the remark, " In feeding, the young birds 

 place their bills between those of the old bird, then the old bird 

 heaves up what it has swallowed." 



* " When I saw one [a tern] for the first time I thought a Landbird had been found 

 in Kerguelen, but such certainly does not exist, except the Sheath-bill, if it can be 

 considered as such." Moseley, Notes of a Nat. on Chal , p. 211. 



f For interesting accounts of these birds and their habits see Carraichael, Trans. 

 Linn. Soc, vol. xii, p. 496; Thompson, Atlantic, vol. ii, p. 178; Scl., Voy. Chal., Zool., 

 vol. ii, p. Ill; Moseley, Notes of Nat., pp. 121, 122. 



