136 THE NATURALIST IN AUSTRALIA. 
surfaces but slightly altered coralla of the Madreporide of which they are principally 
composed. A characteristic illustration of the aspect of one of these overhanging 
limestone promontories is afforded by the photograph reproduced as the heading 
to this Chapter. This view represents the extreme end of Wreck Point, in Pelsart 
Island, and is generally supposed to be the site of the stranding of the “Batavia” 
in 1629. 
From time immemorial, as testified to by the deep guano deposits, Houtman’s 
Abrolhos has been the home or breeding centre of countless hosts of sea-birds, 
which still resort thither in enormous quantities in the breeding season. At the dates 
of the writer's visits to these islands, July and August, 1894, the nesting time for the 
birds had not arrived. During the last visit in August, however, the “ Wideawakes,” 
or Sooty Terns, absent during the daytime, commenced to assemble over their 
breeding grounds on Rat Island as soon as it became dark, and, flying to and fro in 
increasing numbers throughout the night, filled the air with their discordant noise. The 
first-named title borne by these birds is supposed to be descriptive of their cry. To 
the writer their note agreed, phonetically, much more nearly with the four syllables, 
“‘ Come-out-of-that,” but it is probably open to various interpretations. There can be 
no question, however, as to the fact that to light sleepers the burden of this sea-gull’s 
song must be eminently conducive to wakefulness. An investigation into a report 
upon the number of varieties and breeding seasons and other data of interest con- 
cerning the sea-birds frequenting the Abrolhos, has been recently carried out by 
Mr. A. J. Campbell, F.L.S., the well-known Victorian ornithologist, and is published 
in Vol. II., 1890, of the Reports of the Australian Association for the Advancement 
of Science. The following is an abbreviated list of the sea-birds recorded in Mr. 
Campbell’s paper as permanently frequenting or resorting to the Abrolhos Islands at 
their breeding seasons :— 
LIST OF SEA AND SHORE BIRDS FREQUENTING HOUTMAN’S 
ABROLHOS RECORDED BY Mr. A. J. CAMPBELL, F.LS. 
Halietus leucogaster, White-bellied Sea- Hematopus unicolor, Sooty Oyster- 
eagle. 
Pandion leucocephalus, White-headed 
Osprey. 
Hematopus longirostris, White-breasted 
Oyster-catcher. 
catcher. 
Agialitis ruficapilla, Red-capped 
Dottrel. 
Tringa albescens, Little Sandpiper. 
Tringa subarquata, Curlew Sandpiper. 
