GOOSE ISLAND. 78 



scanty veg'etation is apparently limited to a grass 

 gTowiiig- in tussocks, and a few maritime plants. 

 The ground resembles a rabbit warren, being every- 

 where undermined by the burrows of the mutton- 

 bird, a dark shearwater (Pvffinus brevicaudus), the 

 size of a pigeon. A person in walking across the 

 island can scarcely avoid frequently stumbling- 

 among- these burrows, from the earth giving- way 

 under his feet, and I was told by one of the residents 

 th-at snakes are very numerous in these holes, Hving 

 upon the mutton-birds; I myself trod upon one 

 \\hich, fortunately, was too sluggish to escape be- 

 fore I had time to shoot it, and ascertain it to be the 

 well known " black snake" of the Australian colonists 

 (AcanfJiophis Tortor), a very poisonous species. 

 Among the sea fowl, a large gull (Larus Pacificus), 

 was exceedingly plentiful, together with a smaller one 

 [Xema Jamesonii), and a few penguins (Spheniscus 

 minor). A fine flock of wild geese (Cereopsis Novas 

 HollandicB),-was, seen, but they were too wary to allow 

 of close approach. About dusk clouds of mutton- 

 birds came in from the sea, and we amused ourselves 

 with chasing them over the ground among their 

 burrows, and as many specimens as I required were 

 speedily provided by knocking them down with a 

 stick. As usual with the Petrel family they bite 

 severely if incautiously handled, and disgorge a 

 quantity of offensive oily matter, the smell of which 

 pervades the whole island, and which the clothes I 

 then wore retained for a long time afterwards. 



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