As to the Fauna of St. Paul, there appears to be one kind of sea-swallow (_storna_) not hitherto described, the bill and feet of which are of a coral-red colour, and delicate silver-grey plumage, undoubtedly the most beautiful of the feathered inhabitants, as the penguin is the most extraordinary and peculiar creature on the island. Besides these there is also a pretty grey diver (_Prion Vittatus_), which builds its nest among the rocks; also a brown gull (_Stercorarius antarcticus_), as also three kinds of albatrosses (_Diomedea exulans_, _D. fuliginosa_, _D. chlororhinchos_).
The Crater-basin was somewhat less unproductive than the dry land. The depth is from 100 to 175 feet. Close to the edge, the sounding line gave a depth of 10 fathoms (60 feet). Experiments with the dredging-net, although frequently made, gave by no means satisfactory results. On the other hand, the rod and line brought up many an interesting addition to our collection, and frequent strolls at ebb-tide along the barely uncovered masses of rock that skirted the basin of the crater were rewarded with numerous discoveries of specimens of conchology. In the centre of the basin we came upon slimy ground at a depth of 204 feet; near the hot springs (about 100 feet distant), 19 fathoms (114 feet); and at a third point, on the south side, 23 fathoms (138 feet). Viot said, that after repeated soundings at different points, he had found the depth of the basin varied from 10 to 35 fathoms (60 to 210 feet). The seals (_Arctocephalus Falclandicus_) of which, according to Macartney, at the end of last century, thousands daily came to the coast of the island to bask in the sun, have almost entirely disappeared, so that these animals are very rarely seen or captured by the inhabitants. Even of the skeletons of these marine mammals, which, when the naturalists of the _Lion_ were roaming through the island, used to lie about in such numbers that one could almost walk upon bones all round the crater, not a vestige is left, and one can hardly realize that formerly hundreds of thousands of these animals were slaughtered at this island.
Almost all the quadrupeds of the island are domestic animals that have been brought hither from Europe and the French colonies--such as swine, goats, cats, rabbits--which at present live here in a wild state. The goats, which were first introduced in 1844, are most numerous on the N.W. of the island; the swine, on the contrary, are not so frequently met with. During our residence, a boar and a wild cat were killed; a few days after, the five young of the cat were found, having been compelled to emerge from their lair in search of food. A female hare, which we had brought from Cape Town, was also set free on the island, and it was fortunate for the propagation of these useful animals that there was already a male hare on the island. A pair of geese was also presented to the colonists, which perhaps have continued to breed there.
