124 A NATURALIST ON THE " CHALLENGER." 



they get a chance, but their principal food here appears to be 

 the night birds, especially the Prions, which they drag from 

 their holes, or pounce on as they come out of them. The place 

 was strewed with the skeletons of Prions, with the meat torn off 

 them by these gulls, which leave behind the bones and feathers. 

 The Antarctic Skua is very similar in appearance to the large 

 northern Skua, of which a figure is given here in default of 

 better. The two species were at first considered by naturalists 

 to be identical ; they differ however, especially in the structure 

 of the bill. The Skua is of a dark brown colour, not unlike 

 that of most of the typical birds of prey. We met with the 



BRITISH SKUA, STERCORARIUS CATARRACTES. 



bird constantly afterwards on our southern voyage, as far down 

 even as the Arctic Circle ; and a specimen was noticed by Ross 

 further south still, in Possession Island. 



The hut of the Germans was a comfortable one of stone, 

 thatched with tussock and with a good frame window and door, 

 and comfortable bunks to sleep on. There used to be wild goats 

 on the top of Inaccessible Island, and there are still plenty of wild 

 pigs. The ferine pigs were, as the Germans told me, of various 

 colouring, and showed no tendency to uniformity ; but the goats 

 were almost invariably black, only one or two had a few white 

 markings about head, neck, and chest. The sows used to be 

 seen with litters of seven or eight young, but in a few days the 

 number dwindled to one or two ; the sows probably eating their 

 young. The young suffered often from a sort of scrofula, in 

 which the glands about the neck became much enlarged. 



