1058 DAPTION CAPENSIS. 



numerous in the South Atlantic, South Indian, and South Pacific Oceans, but nowhere more so than off the 

 Australian coasts, appearing on the passage down from Galle in latitude 30° or 32°, and accompanying the 

 ship thence to Bass's Straits. It is common off the coasts of New Zealand, and between there and Tasmania. 

 I have not found it so abundant off the Cape of Good Hope, which, however, I rounded at the end of April, when 

 the bird was mostly absent at its breeding-haunts. Mr. Gould records it as plentiful off the Horn, and remarks 

 that, owing to its habit of following ships, it is led away into warmer latitudes than it usually frequents; he 

 was informed by Lieut. Blackett, R.N., that it will follow vessels from the Cape of Good Hope to St. Helena, 

 and from Cape Horn to Rio Janeiro. I find it mentioned by Mr. Ramsay as having occurred at Cape York 

 probably under similar circumstances ; and this being the case, its appearance near the coasts of Ceylon is not 

 difficult to account for. A second instance of its occurrence north of the Line is known to me, namely, when 

 Layard met with it, in November 1866, in lat. 3° N., which is about five degrees lower than the point reached 

 by it in the Gulf of Manaar. 



Habits. — Of the many species of Petrel which follow in the wake of ships voyaging in the south seas, 

 greatly assisting by their animated presence to vary the monotony of a long passage, none are more attractive 

 than the Cape Pigeon, whose variegated black-and-white plumage contrasts with the sombreness of many of 

 its smaller companions ; while the persevering manner in which it courses backwards and forwards just under- 

 neath the stern of the vessel, making turn after turn with almost motionless wings, merely inclining the 

 body towards the perpendicular to enable it to reverse the direction of its flight, cannot fail to rivet the atten- 

 tion of the traveller. In common with all its family it is possessed of extraordinary powers of flight, the 

 most remarkable feature of which is the great amount of impetus or momentum which is imparted to the body 

 by a few vigorous strokes of the wing, enabling the bird to progress for some distance afterwards with no 

 other motion than a quick upturuiug of the wing-plane to enable it to turn in its course. The progress 

 thus made by the Cape Pigeon is very rapid, for it sweeps backwards and forwards with greater proportional speed 

 than most other species. When any substance is observed on the water, these birds settle down for an instant, 

 sitting lightly on the billows until they rise again, which they do by spreading out their wings and taking one or 

 two vigorous strokes, propelling themselves along the surface, and then mounting in the air. They are caught by 

 means of white worsted let out from the stern of the vessel, which, not seeing, they fly against, and entangling 

 their wings, are hauled on board. Sometimes a piece of wood is attached to the worsted, which falls in the 

 water, and, scudding along after the vessel, keeps down the end of the string. 1 have tried these means, and 

 know that they fail entirely if the speed of the vessel is not slow. When brought on deck this and other Petrels 

 vomit, out of sheer fright, a strong-smelling oily substance, which in the ju'esent bird is said to be of a red 

 colour. They are unable to rise from the deck. "Their cry," writes Captain Hutton, "is like the sound 

 made by drawing a piece of iron across a large-toothed comb — cac, cac, cac-cac, cac, the third being pronounced 

 the quickest." I have never heard it utter any note on the wing ; and I imagine that, as a rule, it is a very 

 silent bird. 



Although so common a species, the breeding-haunts of the Cape Pigeon do not appear yet to have been 

 discovered, as it does not resort to Kerguelen Land, Tristan d'Acuuha, or other islands frequented by 

 Albatrosses. Darwin was informed by sailors that it bred on the island of South Georgia ; and it is not 

 improbable that it may resort to other portions of land near the Antarctic circle and beyond the limits of 

 ordinary voyages. 



