ON THE BIRDS OF THE WEDDELL AN!) ADJACENT SEAS. I><i3 



Vanhoffen (t.c., pp. 506 and 508) records it as seen so far south as 59 during the 

 voyage of the Gauss from Kerguelen towards Wilhelm Land ; and on the return 

 voyage northwards from that part of the Antarctic Continent it was again met with 

 200 nautical miles south of Heard Island, or in about 57 S. 



The feet of the specimen obtained by Dr Pirie are, according to a coloured drawing 

 made at the time of its capture, purplish grey and the claws black ; while the iris is 

 dark brown and the pupil blue-black. 



Ossifraga gigantea (Gm.). 



Ofsifrwja gigantea Cat. J!., xxv. p. 422. 



The (.liant Petrel was seen everywhere and almost daily during the Antarctic 

 voyages of the Scotia, even in the highest latitudes reached during each year's cruise, 

 namely 70 and 74 S. ; and yet its breeding-grounds are all, so far as we know them, 

 to be found north of the Antarctic Circle. 



Perhaps some of these petrels which frequent the far south in late .summer and 

 autumn may be either non-breeding or immature birds which have spent the summer 

 there; while others may proceed south at the close of the nesting-season, as may also 

 young birds. These are points which at present do not admit of satisfactory solution. 



Off Coats Land, in 74 1' S. and 22 W., from the 9th to the 13th of March 1!)04, 

 when the Scotia was fast in the grip of the pack, a number of these birds were seen, as 

 were also many of McCormick's Skuas, Antarctic and Snowy Petrels, and Arctic Terns. 

 White examples are only alluded to in the Zoological //</ during these voyages as 

 being seen on four occasions, all north of 01 S. 



As regards the food of this bird as a marine species, a great host of individuals, 

 including white examples, were feeding on the carcass of a dead whale in 60 03' S. 

 (39 44' W.) on February 7th, 1903, and the stomach of one shot contained crustaceans. 



Daption capensis (Linn.). 



l)it./iti<m capensis Cut. I!., xxv. p. 4-8. 



The Cape Pigeon was one of the most abundant species observed by the Expedi- 

 tion during its two Antarctic voyages. It was seen almost everywhere, both at sea 

 and amid the ice, as far south as 71 50', though it was only found in small numbers in 

 the high latitude mentioned. 



The presence of this (with other petrels) in great numbers in the Weddell Sea, far 

 to the south of its breeding-haunts, in the late summer and in autumn, has already 

 been alluded to (p. 257), and a possible explanation of its remarkable incursions amid the 

 South Polar ice, ere it moves northward to reach its accustomed oceanic winter-quarters, 

 has been offered. 



All the specimens obtained in the Antarctic Ocean during these voyages in the 

 autumns of 1903 and 1904 have the dark portions of their plumage of a fresh slate- 



