56 



THE ZOOLOGIST. 



them to be, and as having come up from East London and Bird 

 Island with the fishing-boats : — 

 Hyd ro ch e lido n hyb rida . 



Sterna bergii. — S. media. The latter and active little bird 

 — a frequent visitor of ours — prefers, it appears, our bay with 

 its sand-banks to the more lofty and breezy sides of Table 

 Mountain. 



The Giant Petrel (Ossifraga gigantea), fairly common, with its 

 expansive wings of brown ; it rarely ventures inside the Channel. 

 It is what might be called a sociable bird. 



Lastly, a single specimen and rarer bird, which I find I have 

 queried Sterna saundersi. 



The ' Ornen ' having come to a standstill, the excitement of 

 these birds I found was due to the carcase, which, owing to 

 the heavy sea and strain put upon it, had come to grief, the 

 stomach having opened out, allowing the viscera to divide. 

 The captain seeing this ordered the men to let way. Im- 

 mediately, to our relief, it swung round and floated quickly 

 out to sea, with the whole host of birds fighting and screaming 

 in its wake. 



It was near ten o'clock when the skipper changed hands. 

 The morning which looked so unpromising now commenced to 

 brighten up with a change of wind. The mate asked me if I 

 would care for some breakfast ? I declined, the dead Whale still 

 being fresh in my memory. 



The breakwater was now just visible, the Bluff Lighthouse 

 in the hazy distance being silhouetted by its verdant surround- 

 ings. The captain, coming on deck, began to see that every- 

 thing was in working order, the duties of the harpoon-gun 

 being his, and sent the mate aloft to a barrel at the masthead 

 — the old crow's-nest — the wheel being handed over to the 

 helmsman. Here I may make some remarks on the deadly 

 weapon upon which the sport of the day depended. The gun is 

 screwed down at the extreme end of the bow, moves round on a 

 swivel, and discharges a harpoon nearly six feet long, to which is 

 screwed an explosive in the head of the projectile, behind which 

 again are the three barbs or prongs which, if the fuse be , 

 correctly timed, open out ; but they will also unlock indepen- I 

 dently of the bomb. The weight of this harpoon is about I 



