298 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



almost entirely of a shrubby character, and not very easy to get 

 through in some parts. Composite, Chenopodiacea, and Rutacece 

 seemed to be the prevailing natural orders, with a few stunted 

 Acacias, as well as a small round-topped bush or low tree with a 

 stem about as thick as one's leg, and ovate leathery leaves, which 

 was not in flower at the time ; so I could not make out its 

 affinities. The beach above high-water mark was clothed with 

 " bent-grass," and in some of the more open parts a yellow 

 Senecio, and a Mesembryanthemum with bright pink flowers, 

 carpeted the sandy soil. Except for the Wallabies, there ap- 

 peared to be no great amount of animal life, as this island, unlike 

 the southern members of the group, is apparently not a breeding 

 station for sea-birds. I could find no traces of guano in any 

 part, nor any burrows of the Sooty Petrel or "Mutton-bird," 

 Thiellus sphe?iurus, Gould, though a good- sized black Petrel, 

 presumably of this species, was commonly seen on approaching 

 the anchorage, and the adjacent West Wallaby Island is described 

 as being a perfect warren of these birds (cf. Stokes, loc. cit., and 

 Gould, 'Handbook, Birds of Australia,' vol. ii. p. 466). Neither 

 could I meet with any evidence of the two Noddies, Anbus stoli- 

 dusy Lath., and A, melanops, Gould, or of the Sooty Tern, Sterna 

 fuliginosa, Gmel., all three of which breed in such multitudes on 

 Rat Island and others of the south islands, nesting in the scrub. 

 Along the sandy beaches, which were encumbered with great 

 piles of washed-up Zostera, numerous Gulls and Terns were to be 

 seen, the former being represented by the common Australian 

 species, Larus novce-hollandice, Steph., and the large and powerful 

 L. (Gabianus) pacificus, Lath. ; while the latter included, among 

 others, the handsome " Caspian Tern," Sterna (Hydroprogne) 

 caspia, and the delicate little Stemula nereis, which the late Mr. 

 Gould, its describer, aptly calls " a beautiful representative, in 

 the Southern Ocean, of the Little Tern of the European seas. 

 Occasionally an Osprey, or an Australian Sea-eagle, Polioaetus 

 leucogaster, Lath., was to be seen soaring high overhead; and on 

 the coral-flats left bare by the receding tide, the pretty little 

 Mgialiophilus riificapillus — very similar in habits, and also, except 

 for its chestnut-red head, in appearance, to our own Ringed Plover 

 — was busily feeding in company with Black and Pied Oyster- 

 catchers, Hcematopus fuliginosas, Gould, and H. longirostris, 



