376 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



The Scotia Expedition found that a few birds remained throughout the winter in the 

 neighbourhood of the ship's winter quarters; and the Argentine meteorologists stated 

 that a few remained in the vicinity of their hut nearly every winter. 



Except for these birds, which find artificial means of sustenance, it is almost certain 

 that the Sheathbills leave the islands during the winter, for it would be extremely 

 difficult for them to find sufficient food when almost all the other birds had departed. 



It is suggested that they migrate to the islands and channels off the coast of Patagonia, 

 where they are believed to occur during the winter. Several birds were seen at sea off 

 Cape Horn from the ' Discovery II ' in the middle of April 1930, and two days previously 

 one was in company with the ship, then northward-bound, midway between the South 

 Shetlands and Cape Horn. These were the only occasions on which a Sheathbill was 

 seen far from land during the cruises of the ' Discovery II '. At sea the birds perched 

 about the ship and ffew at a considerable height above the surface of the water. They 

 were never seen to feed, and they probably perform their sea migrations without 

 feeding. 



LIST OF LITERATURE 



Bennett, A. G., 1926. A List of Birds of the Falkland Islands and Dependencies. Ibis, pp. 306-33. 



Clarke, W. Eagle, 1906. Birds of the South Orkney Islands. Ibis, pp. 145-87. 



Hamilton, J. E., 1934. The Sub-Antarctic Forms of the Great Skua (Catharacta skua skua). Discovery 



Reports, IX, pp. 161-74. 

 Lowe, P. R. and Kinnear, N. B., 1930. Birds. British Antarctic ('Terra Nova') Expedition Reports, 



Natural History, iv, part 5, pp. 103-93. London. 

 Matthews, L. Harrison, 1929. Birds of South Georgia. Discovery Reports, i, pp. 563-92. 



