SEA-BIRDS AT VALPARAISO 189 



in the launch some miles from the shipping, I 

 met with small parties of these birds, and one 

 specimen was obtained. The bird breeds in the 

 high north, and occurs in England on " passage " 

 during its migrations, which extend as far south 

 as Chile and New Zealand. 



Richardson's skua, another sea-bird well known 

 off English coasts, was also obtained at Valparaiso. 

 We were somewhat surprised to see this species 

 so far south, as it had not previously been recorded 

 from this latitude. It varies considerably in 

 coloration, some examples being dark chocolate- 

 brown on the breast, while others are white. A 

 specimen of the latter " phase " was shot. 



Every evening great numbers of petrels of two 

 species came in close to the shipping. The more 

 common was a dark brown bird, and this proved 

 to be Puffinus griseus, which is an occasional 

 visitor to England; the other was Puffinus 

 creatopus, a somewhat rare bird. The former was 

 seen every evening in vast numbers in fact, 

 so many came into the bay of an evening that the 

 water was literally black with them. 



A few giant petrels were noticed, and they 

 deserve special mention, owing to the fact that 

 they are one of the most voracious of sea-birds; 

 nothing seems to come amiss to them in the way 

 of food. The example we shot was feeding 

 greedily on a dog, long dead ! As we had not 

 previously obtained a specimen of the bird, it was 



