28 
Mr. R. Hall on the 
Near Accessible Bay on February 8th I observed many young 
birds nearly ready to fly. In their stomachs I found the 
tongues of Prions and Penguins. 
T^Daption capensis (Linn.); Salvin, Cat. B. xxv. p. 428. 
The Cape Pigeon is a fearless bird. In Greenland Harbour 
I observed them in flocks of from 20 to 30, and at Accessible 
Bay I found their nests. When seal-skins were being towed 
by the small boat, a flock of seventeen would sit on the water 
around the floating skins and vigorously peck at their edges 
to get as much fat as possible, using all their energy in the 
work, and “ clucking ” rapidly and tremulously. 
In the flock seen at Greenland Harbour all the birds 
seemed to be mature, and the young must either have been 
still in their nests, or had moulted thus early into full dress. 
At Accessible Bay (Betsy Cove) on February 7th I observed 
four nests, each with one young one partially covered with 
down. The nests were in the cavities of a rough cliff, and 
were simply hollows, without any attempt to place weeds in 
them. I saw two adults sitting in a sheltered nook, without 
egg or young; and one of these birds was placing little stones, 
one by one, around it with the bill, as if to make the nesting- 
place comfortable. The instinct of the bird evidently is to 
collect something to make a nest, but it is almost lost, and 
the few stones in all the nests were of no use, so far as I 
could see. These cavities or grottoes (approximately 6x3x3 
feet) were about 50 feet above sea-level, and by stooping 
I could get inside them, except in one case. A little climb 
brought me to an old bird, which clucked and made its trill ; 
and I surprised another on its nest, but it did not fly, though 
it vigorously defended its young, and jumped backward and 
forward. I kept at a respectful distance from the young 
one, as it had an unknown supply of oily matter. In each 
of these nests was a young bird, partially in down, about as 
large as the parents, and in the daytime each of them was 
attended by one parent. The young may be described thus :— 
Length 12*75 inches : down, generally greyish above, greyish 
white below; bill black. 
