110 BIRD LIFE ON ISLAND AND SHORE 
come to the wrong place. Starlings were in no 
better plight; like the Sparrows, they seemed quite 
unable to obtain permanent foothold. There was 
no suitable timber. Holes elsewhere that might 
have suited a Starling would also have admitted 
the little Kuaka, in which case Starling, nest, 
and eggs would have been summarily evicted. 
In any case, these holes would have been too 
damp for the rearing of young Starlings. At 
night, too, these aliens, wherever they may have 
elected to roost, must have been kept in per- 
petual perturbation. A single Greenfinch was 
noticed ; Redpoles were seen thrice, each time in 
a different part of our domain. A brace of Gold- 
finch were also observed. There was not a Song 
Thrush on the isle. The only British species 
attempting to breed was the Blackbird. A nest 
containing eggs was found during our first day. 
It was afterwards deserted, having from its lop- 
sided appearance been displaced by a falling 
Petrel.1 | 
On the few yards of open ground near the 
hut, cleared partly for light and sunshine and partly 
to facilitate the preparation of Mutton birds for 
market, nearly two dozen small stranger plants 
1 On an island in Paterson Inlet we had on another occasion 
got the nest of the Hedge Sparrow, and on the mainland at Port 
Pegasus had seen the Yellow Hammer, a species we were assured 
had arrived during the year of our visit. 
