A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL 



outstretched from their white bodies Uke the balancing-pole of a 

 rope-walker. On the return voyage in September the ship was 

 accompanied also by Cape pigeons, which flew constantly above the 

 ship's wake, stooping after scraps of food. They are called pigeons 

 because they resemble those birds in size, and in the shape of the 

 bill, but in reality these pretty creatures, with their black and white 

 harlequin costume, belong to the Petrels. They breed on the coast 

 of Uruguay, and on Tierra del Fuego. 



Now and again one sees plovers on the beaches of Brazil, or 

 sandpipers, small brown birds which run swiftly to and fro on 

 their slender little legs. Seagulls, which the Brazilians call "Gaivotas," 

 and terns, "Trinta rais," I seldom saw. These birds are more 

 numerous on our German islands in the North Sea, particularly 

 where they are protected. Since the terns, and some of the gulls, 

 lay their eggs on the sand, where anyone may steal them, the 

 collection of these eggs by the natives may be the cause of their 

 comparative rarity on the inhabited stretches of the Brazilian coast. 



In October 1924 the Deutsche Wirtschaftsdienst in Berlin reported 

 that the seal fishery in Uruguay had become an important source 

 of revenue. In 1922, an especially good year, 2,600 fine and 4,000 

 ordinary skins were obtained. One Argentine company obtained 

 5,000 barrels of seal-oil and 30,000 of train-oil, and the whale 

 fishery on the whole of the coast was said to have yielded 77,000 

 barrels of train-oil. Fortunately for the seals, a Uruguayan com- 

 mission has recommended a statutory regulation of the seal fishery, 

 and Argentina too is said to have established a close season, so that 

 we may hope that these beautiful creatures will not be recklessly 

 sacrificed to the greed of gain. The whale fishery, on the other hand, 

 will soon have cleared the southern seas of the giant mammals, 

 as it has already cleared the northern. Here only the strictest legis- 

 lation would be of avail, and it would have to be enforced by 

 international supervision; and experience seems to show us that 

 the nations are as yet unready for such measures. 



As our vessel was approaching Santos from the south, we saw 

 dead penguins floating on the water. As long ago as 1899 H. von 

 Ihering reported such a wholesale mortality of penguins, albatrosses 

 and gulls. In 1920, moreover, hundreds of penguins are said to 

 have been washed ashore near Santos, and since then such regrettable 

 mortality has frequently recurred. H. Luedervaldt, of the Sao Paulo 

 Museum, is of the opinion that the larger seabirds are exhausted by 

 protracted gales, because in rough weather the fish seek the quiet 



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