NATURE NOTES 
By OLIVE RODWAY 
On the trip to Schouten Island many 
sea birds were to be seen, notably the 
black-browed albatross (mollymawk), 
silver gull, the black and white breasted 
cormorants, whilst round the camp some 
beautiful prions were observed flying 
about. 
As we dropped anchor in the bay, down 
in the clear water could be seen the 
curious little sea-horse, with its pre¬ 
hensile tail, enabling it to anchor itself 
to any stem. 
It moves along apparently without any 
motive power, with its curious, solemn, 
long-drawn-out face, and when closely 
watched it is found that it has the power 
of moving either eye independently ot 
the other, giving a most comical effect. 
It reminds one very much of a short- 
sighted person, as it peers closely at 
different objects in its search for food. 
In one of the bays visited were seen 
penguins swimming along. According to 
Dr. Leech, these are found up the 
Pacific Ocean as far as the Equator, but 
not in the Atlantic or Indian Ocean. 
Their distribution supports the geo¬ 
graphers in their theory that the Pacific 
Ocean is t'lie most ancient, whilst the 
Atlantic and Indian Ocean are more 
recent. On the shore were found the, 
brown seaweed, like a string of beads, 
called ITormosira Banksii, whilst in the 
deeper parts were the floating kelp, 
which in favourable conditions may grow 
longer than the tallest trees. 
Amongst this many fish were taken, 
chiefly trumpeter, cod, kelpies, flathead; 
but a few John Dory's were found also. 
These attain the length of about 18ip., 
and are excellent fish for table purposes, 
though seldom brought in to market. 
This fish lias a black round mark on 
its side, and In ot her countries the fisher¬ 
man hold it in special respect, as they 
recognise the mark left by the thumb 
of St. Peter when he took the piece of 
money from its mouth. 
Shore life w-as not of much interest, 
though a. go oil many mutton fish shells 
were found. The real name of this is 
ear shell (Haliotis), anil is found under 
water on rocks at low tide. The pearly 
inside part is used for buttons and orna¬ 
mental work. The shells are very 
abundant in the aboriginal kitchen 
middens along the coasts. The san ly 
beach at Schouten Island is made up of 
small particles of granite. This keeps 
vary soft, and makes walking difficult, 
as the feet sink in to it at each stop. 
Numerous quail rose up as we walked 
through the scrub. 
They have very rounded wings, which 
are suitable for sudden flight, whilst the 
whirring noise startles an enemy and 
gives them time to escape. Slieoaks 
were seen to he fairly numerous, they 
have a peculiar appearance, nil what <ve 
call leaves being in reality branches, 
whilst at the nodes of these will be 
found rings of small scale-like lenves. 
