Page:The Emu volume 21.djvu/411

 island, which is quite small, but high and steep, taking a small seal, a pair of Cape Barren Geese and Little Penguins, with two eggs. He also found a number of small burrows, which had been tenanted comparatively recently by the White-faced Storm-Petrel, a wing and portion of an egg shell being brought off for identification. It would appear that this colony has a much earlier date for breeding than the one on Lion Island. While Wright was on the island I had a fine view of the seals tumbling about on the rocks and plunging over the ledges into the water. They came round the dinghy, and one of the Geese which fell into the water was nearly captured by a seal. Grant winning in the chase literally by a neck! After getting Wright and his bag off, we left for Woody Island with a fair wind, arriving there in the afternoon. The Geese were soon skinned, and their bodies went into the pot, making the most delicious stew we had ever tasted, but then we had been without a meal from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Woody Island is one of the lew which have anything in the way of trees on them, a small clump of mallee having established itself in a gully and escaped the fires. Here we found old traces of long-deserted Mutton Bird burrows, but there were no Penguins or other sea birds. Brush Bronzewings, Brown Quail, Rock Parrots, Yellow-breasted Whistlers, and Singing Honeyeaters were observed. Traps were set, and the weather being fine, Jones brothers stayed on the boat at anchor—this being one of the few islands with any kind of an anchorage—while we camped on shore. Traps were set, and the morning revealed five nice specimens of the local rat, one of which had left his tail in one trap, and his body in another! This island is used for sheep, and three were seen by us. There is a small artificial waterhole, but the water was too foul for use. A young Pacific Gull was found wandering about on a headland, the parents feeding down on the rocks.

Our water supply having run out, we returned to Esperance and spent a couple of wet days cleaning up and skinning specimens. The weather continuing wet and stormy, we did a little exploration of the coastal scrub, and went out to the Pink and Green Lakes, three miles from Esperance. On a fine day these lakes are most brilliantly coloured, the one a deep rosy pink, and the other an emerald green. Both are shallow and salt; immense quantities of the mineral are taken from the Pink Lake. Large flocks of Red-capped Dotterel were seen on the shores of the lakes, and in the scrub we saw a few immature specimens of the Red-capped Parrot (Purpureicephalus spurius), Dusky Miner (Myzantha obscuro), Collared Butcher-Bird (Cracticus torqiiatus), and Black-faced Cuckoo-Shrike.

We had hoped to get a run down to Figure-of-Eight Island, 18 miles south-west, but the wind was against us, and Jones brothers could not guarantee a certain return in time to catch