47 



narrow and slippery path along the face of the cliff. We were amply repaid for our trouble, 

 for we happened to arrive at a fortunate time (just after sunset), when all the old birds 

 had come in from their fishing, so that we were able to view the proceedings on the 

 breeding-ground under the most favourable conditions. 



Standing boldly out of the sea beyond the Cape are two conical " sugar-loaves " of 

 Lower Miocene formation, and the cape itself presents a rounded head-land with an arched 

 passage right through it, which is distinctly visible from the decks of steamers following 

 their usual track along the coast. From this head-land the land rises in three little peaks, 

 each successively higher, all of the same clay-marl formation, and then we came to a small 

 plateau, about an acre in extent and about 200 feet above the sea, the whole of which is 

 occupied by the Grannets. On each side of this little plateau the land slopes upwards. 

 The actual breeding-ground is in the centre, which is perfectly level, and the birds occupy 

 the higher ground for resting on, the whole surface being worn bare by the constant traffic 

 over it. At the time of our visit there were probably over a thousand birds nesting there. 

 Some of the nests contained sitting birds, there being only one egg in each nest ; but by 

 far the larger proportion contained young birds (never more than one) in all stages of 

 growth, from the newly-hatched naked chick of a uniform black colour to the half -fledged 

 nestling. But- most of the occupants of the nesting-ground were un-fledged birds covered 

 with a thick growth of down of snowy whiteness. These were to be seen all over the 

 ground, either squatting beside an old bird that was incubating or strutting about the 

 ground in a very important fashion. In the hollow I have described the nests were so 

 crowded together that it was a matter of difficulty to step between them. The nests are 

 carefully formed, looking like inverted shallow clay basins, with a depression in the centre 

 filled with soft seaweed, and measuring about 18 inches in diameter. 



As I have said, we arrived just as the old birds had completed their fishing operations 

 for the day. They were crowded close together on the rising ground on both sides of the 

 nesting-place, each of them doubtless stewing in his crop a supply of fish to be regurgitated 

 later on for the benefit of the young birds, who were manifesting the utmost impatience for 

 their supper by a continuous "swirling" cry, like that of young Shags. We sat down about 

 a dozen yards from the breeding-ground and watched operations with much interest for some 

 time, without apparently causing any alarm to the birds; but, on our attempting to get 

 nearer, the Gannets not actually sitting on the nests or attending to the young ones rose 

 in a body and filled the air with the graceful sweeping of their black pinions. They were 

 so closely packed together as they rose that it seemed to us quite a marvel that they 

 could vibrate their wings so rapidly and at such close quarters without coming into actual 

 contact with one another. Having once risen into the air, the birds continued their hovering 

 overhead during the whole of our visit, and we could see them still on the wing, long after- 

 wards, as we rode homewards along the beach. It was certainly a very pretty sight, and 

 quite an unexpected one, for visitors at an earlier period of the day find only the incu- 

 bators or the birds that happen to be at home performing their domestic duties. We walked 

 boldly down into the breeding-ground and found that, as a rule, old birds sitting on newly- 

 hatched chicks would not vacate their post of duty till compelled to do so, striking fiercely 

 with their bills at the feet of any intruder. I switched one in the face with my pocket- 

 handkerchief, but she showed fight and refused to leave the nest, so I left her there. I 

 noticed that where the nest contained only an egg they were not so devoted, always rising 

 in the air as soon as we had approached within a yard or two. There were many dead 

 young birds strewed about the breeding-ground, in various stages of decomposition, and from 

 these 'decaying objects there came an unpleasant smell, but there was nothing disagreeable 



