112 BIRD LIFE ON ISLAND AND SHORE 
as of a gigantic wet rabbit warren. Especially 
were the lower slopes so perforated by burrowing 
Petrels that it was impossible to tread without 
breaking through the surface. Thereabouts, grow- 
ing out of the bare peat, flourished low, thick-set, 
gnarled, hard-twigged, rigid tupari woods, their 
gaunt grey stems naked to the neck, their leathery 
foliage borne on the topmost twigs, able alike to 
endure the buffeting of winter blizzards, the 
drift of salt sea spray, the bird tunnelling about 
their roots. They were of different ages; there 
were strips and patches in the last stage of sen- 
ility, starved of sap, bearing depauperated leaves 
with no signs of young suckers or shoots or other 
token of rejuvenescence; there were spinneys of 
well-grown specimens in their prime; elsewhere 
again were to be seen healthy saplings. The 
plant at any rate renews itself from time to time 
in small irregular areas. Above the steep slopes, 
on the crown of the islet, grow ironwoods several 
feet in diameter, sprawling along the ground ere 
they send up leaders, creeping ere they can stand 
upright, as is the habit of this southern species. 
Amongst and beneath them flourished trees of 
lesser size. Here and there on the island were 
scattered groups of shabby-looking, loose-rooted 
tree-ferns, over-manured and undermined, un- 
happy at the perpetual disturbance of their 
sparse roots. There were thickets of island grass, 
