shags on one occasion very busy fishing, and between
diving intervals they would sit on the water. Suddenly one disappeared
under the water and the rest flew off; but in a few seconds the one
which had disappeared was thrown into the air and caught by a sea
leopard, who played in this fashion with the maimed bird for several
minutes before devouring it.

A few days previously we had received a request from Mr. D. C. Bates,
the New Zealand Meteorologist, for a daily weather report, and from the
12th onwards a message was sent nightly to Wellington, a distance
of about eleven hundred miles. In acknowledging these reports,
subsequently, the office referred to their immediate value in the issue
of daily forecasts, and expressed indebtedness to the Expedition.

The two species of penguins which leave the island during the winter
months had disappeared, and silence now reigned where formerly were
busy, noisy colonies. The departure of the migrants made the place seem
lonelier and, during the depths of winter when snow covers the ground
and the birds and animals are few in number, a more dreary spot would be
difficult to find.

The weather conditions were now rather severe, and as Sawyer and
Sandell worked from 8 P.M. till 2 or 3 A.M. every night and slept at the
wireless station, they were exempted from the necessity of coming down
to get breakfast during their cooking weeks. They now rested till about
noon, and arrived at the Shack every day in time for lunch. Hamilton,
Blake and I, each outside his own cooking week, took it in turns to
prepare breakfast.

Blake's fieldwork at the north end, more particularly in the vicinity of
West Point and North Head, was just about finished. West Point proved to
be an area of gabbro, a coarse-grained eruptive rock representative of
basic rocks, while North Head was composed of basic agglomerate, and
volcanic bombs were numerous.

Hamilton had got together a good collection of bird specimens, and was
now in quest of skeletons.

On the night of the 13th we witnessed a rather pretty auroral
manifestation. It assumed the appearance of a Noah's ark cloud, that is,
stretching from opposite points on the horizon and appearing to converge
at each one of these points. The light was a pale yellow, no other tint
being visible. In addition, a nebulous glow appeared at intervals in the
south.

We heard on the 16th that the 'Aurora' had sailed on that day from
Hobart and would arrive at Macqu