Of the animal productions of the islands, the list is somewhat more extensive.  Those for which they are indebted to the sea, are seals of two kinds, sooty petrels, and penguins.  The hair seal appears to frequent the sheltered beaches, points, and rocks; whilst the rocks and rocky points exposed to the buffettings of the waves are preferred by the handsomer and superior species, which never condescends to the effeminacy of a beach.  A point or island will not be greatly resorted to by these animals, unless it slope gradually to the water, and the shore be, as we term it, steep to.  This is the case with the islet lying off Cape Barren, and with Cone Point; with parts of the Passage Isles, and the south end of Clarke’s Island; and at these places only, did I see fur seals in any number.

The sooty petrel, better known at sea under the name of sheerwater, frequents the tufted, grassy parts of all the islands in astonishing numbers.  It is known that these birds make burrows in the ground, like rabbits; that they lay one or two enormous eggs in these holes, and bring up their young there.  In the evening, they come in from sea, having their stomachs filled with a gelatinous substance gathered from the waves; and this they eject into the throats of their offspring, or retain for their own nourishment, according to circumstances.  A little after sunset, the air at Preservation Island used to be darkened with their numbers; and it was generally an hour before their squabblings ceased, and every one had found its own retreat.  The people of the Sydney Cove had a strong example of perseverance in these birds.  The tents were pitched close to a piece of ground full of their burrows, many of which were necessarily filled up from walking constantly over them; yet, notwithstanding this interruption, and the thousands of birds destroyed, for they constituted a great part of their food during more than six months, the returning flights continued to be as numerous as before; and there was scarcely a burrow less, except in the spaces actually covered by the tents.  These birds are about the size of a pigeon, and when skinned and dried in smoke we thought them passable food.  Any quantity could be procured, by sending people on shore in the evening.  The sole process was to thrust in the arm up to the shoulder, and seize them briskly; but there was some danger of grasping a snake at the bottom of the burrow, instead of a petrel.

The penguin of these islands is of the kind denominated little; the back and upper parts are of a lead-coloured blue; the fore and under parts, white.  They were generally found sitting on the rocks, in the day time, or in caverns near the water side.  They burrow in the same manner as the sooty petrel; but, except in the time of rearing their young, do not seem, like it, to return to their holes every night.  The places preferred for breeding are those at the back of the shore, where the sand is overspread with salt plants; and they were never found intermixed with the petrels, nor far from the salt water.  Their flesh is so strong and fishy, that had not the skins served to make caps, rather handsome, and impenetrable to rain, the penguins would have escaped molestation.