Page:The Emu volume 21.djvu/403

 high granite shoulder, Wright approached quite close, and secured the animal, killing it with one shot. Grant was then sent to assist in removing the skin, a task that was accomplished with considerable difficulty, the seas washing up to the body, and threatening to sweep it away. As the last ligament was severed, a wave came up, and the great carcase rolled back with it. The skin was then hauled out of reach of the waves, and an inspection of the island commenced. The dinghy was run up on a ledge, Grant and the crew of two going up the rocks, while Wright went after two smaller seals further round the island. Grant soon found a colony of White-faced Storm-Petrels in their burrows, each bird sitting on its egg. Many of these were quite fresh, and others showed slight progress in incubation. The burrows were in hundreds, every available patch of soil in the gullies being taken up. The Nankeen Night Herons had their nests on the ground between a hedge-like growth of wind-shorn scrub and the face of the great granite cap. There were about forty nests, each containing two young birds in varying stages of growth, one nest with two eggs, which proved to be about one-third incubated, and one with three young birds. Grant also saw two pairs of Black-cheeked Falcons, and discovered their nests on ledges away down the cliff on the western or seaward side of the island. Both nests contained two eggs, but were quite inaccessible. Sooty Oyster Catchers were also seen on the island. Larry Sinclair informed me that he had seen Owls in the caves on this island, but none were there on the occasion of our visit. The wind hauled round to the south-east in the afternoon, and blowing in directly on our anchorage, I decided not to attempt to land, and called off my party. The loading and transport of the heavy skins was a ticklish task, the cranky dinghy nearly sinking when launched from the ledge, but eventually all hands got safely on board the boat, and we left for Esperance, arriving towards dusk. On the way we passed the Limpet Rock, a typical Recherche islet, conical in shape, swept by every wave up its sloping sides to a height of from five to fifteen feet or more. A black strip showed the wave limit, covered with a slippery coating of algae and studded with the gigantic Limpet shell (Patella neglecta) and jagged barnacles.

This first trip convinced me that the "motor" was useless, and as the boat was otherwise unsuited to a long voyage, I cancelled the engagement, and arranged with the owners of the only other boat, Messrs Jones brothers, to take us for the rest of our expedition. Their boat was a 24-ft. sailing boat, roomy and well-found, but the want of a motor was a very great drawback, and resulted in restricting our operations to what is known as the "Inner Ring" of islands.

Mr. Wharton White called on me, and a conversation soon showed me that his accounts of the fauna were based on the experiences of twenty years ago. Since then there have been