1058 
DAPT10N CAPENSIS. 
numerous in the South Atlantic, South Indian, and South Pacific Oceans, but nowhere more so than off the 
Australian coasts, appealing on the passage down from Galle in latitude 30° or 32°, and accompanying the 
ship thence to Bass’s Straits. It is common off the coasts of New Zealand, and between there and Tasmania. 
I have not found it so abundant off the Cape of Good Hope, which, however, I rounded at the end of April, when 
the bird was mostly absent at its breeding-haunts. Mr. Gould records it as plentiful off the Horn, and remarks 
that, owing to its habit of following ships, it is led away into warmer latitudes than it usually frequents ; he 
was informed by Lieut. Blackett, R.N., that it will follow vessels from the Cape of Good Hope to St. Helena, 
and from Cape Horn to Rio Janeiro. I find it mentioned by Mr. Ramsay as having occurred at Cape York 
probably under similar circumstances ; and this being the case, its appearance near the coasts of Ceylon is not 
difficult to account for. A second instance of its occurrence north of the Line is known to me, namely, when 
Layard met with it, in November 1866, in lat. 3° N., which is about five degrees lower than the point reached 
by it in the Gulf of Manaar. 
Habits . — Of the many species of Petrel which follow in the wake of ships voyaging in the south seas, 
greatly assisting by their animated presence to vary the monotony of a long passage, none are more attractive 
than the Cape Pigeon, whose variegated black-and-white plumage contrasts with the sombreness of many of 
its smaller companions ; while the persevering manner in which it courses backwards and forwards just under- 
neath the stern of the vessel, making turn after turn with almost motionless wings, merely inclining the 
body towards the perpendicular to enable it to reverse the direction of its flight, cannot fail to rivet the atten- 
tion of the traveller. In common with all its family it is possessed of extraordinary powers of flight, the 
most remarkable feature of which is the great amount of impetus or momentum which is imparted to the body 
by a few vigorous strokes of the wing, enabling the bird to progress for some distance afterwards with no 
other motion than a quick upturning of the wing-plane to enable it to turn in its course. The progress 
thus made by the Cape Pigeon is very rapid, for it sweeps backwards and forwards with greater proportional speed 
than most other species. When any substance is observed on the water, these birds settle down for an instant, 
sitting lightly on the billows until they rise again, which they do by spreading out their wings and taking one or 
two vigorous strokes, propelling themselves along the surface, and then mounting in the air. They are caught by 
means of white worsted let out from the stern of the vessel, which, not seeing, they fly against, and entangling 
their wings, are hauled on board. Sometimes a piece of wood is attached to the worsted, which falls in the 
water, and, scudding along after the vessel, keeps down the end of the string. I have tried these means, and 
know that they fail entirely if the speed of the vessel is not slow. When brought on deck this and other Petrels 
vomit, out of sheer fright, a strong-smelling oily substance, which in the present bird is said to be of a red 
colour. They are unable to rise from the deck. “Their cry,” writes Captain Hutton, “is like the sound 
made by drawing a piece of iron across a large-toothed comb — cac, cac, cac-cac, cac, the third being pronounced 
the quickest.” I have never heard it utter any note on the wing ; and I imagine that, as a rule, it is a very 
silent bird. 
Although so common a species, the breeding-haunts of the Cape Pigeon do not appear yet to have been 
discovered, as it does not resort to Kerguelen Land, Tristan d’Acunha, or other islands frequented by 
Albatrosses. Darwin was informed by sailors that it bred on the island of South Georgia ; and it is not 
improbable that it may resort to other portions of land near the Antarctic circle and beyond the limits of 
ordinary voyages. 
