64 EDWARD A. WILSON. 



We obtained six examples of Mcrinlestris antarctica from the Macquaiie Islands, 

 but unfortunately none from the Aucklands, where the birds appeared to be even 

 darker and larger than they were in the Macquarie Islands. We found it nesting in 

 the latter islands on November 22, 1901. Each nest contained two eggs laid merely 

 on the ground, with rarely a few bents lining a .shallow depression. The birds not only 

 threatened to attack those who interfered with them, but also occasionally attempted to 

 draw them away by feigning an inability to fly. They live here as skuas do elsewhere, 

 largely by harassing other birds till they disgorge. We saw one dipping at a Whale- 

 bird {Prion). Fear was a thing apparently unknown to them, for in the open ocean we 

 watched them chasing even the largest albatrosses, and no sooner did the sailing flight 

 of the Skua change for its bee-line stoop than the albatross would immediately drop to 

 the water, there to remain until either its tormentor was gone, or the coveted food 

 in its stomach had passed beyond recall. 



On the Macquarie Islands the Skuas patrolled the penguins' rookeries with great 

 persistence, and no doubt took a fair share of the eggs and young. The most 

 northerly point in open ocean at which we observed Megalestris antarctica was 

 37° 33' S, 6° 9' E. on Sept. 29, 1901, in the South Atlantic ocean. The most 

 southerly point at which we saw the bird was 56° S., 176° E. on March 11, 

 1904, and we were then immensely struck by the obvious difference between it 

 and Maccormick's Skua to which we had grown so accustomed during the preceding 

 two years. Instead of the smaller, pale or parti-coloured bird, we saw a much 

 larger, darker, and stronger bird of one uniform brown all over, chasing albatrosses. 

 Undoubtedly it was most distinct, for we had seen nothing like it amongst 

 thousands of Maccormick's species farther south, and the distinction appears to be 

 well confirmed by a comparison of their young. 



MEGALESTRIS MACCORMICKI. 



McCormick's Skua. 

 (Plates XII., XIII.) 



Stercorarlus maccormichi, Saunders, Bull. B.O.C. III. (1.S9?,), p. 12. 



Megalestris maccormkki, Saunders, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XXV. (1890), p. 321, pi. I. ; Sharpe, Rep. ' South. 

 Cross ' (1902), p. 106, ibique citata ; Eagle Clarke, Birds of S. Orkney Ids., Ibis, Jan. 19o0, p. 182. 



List of Material in the ' Discovery's ' Collectiox. 



No. 00, 9 , ad. sk. Jan. 31, 1902. Great Ice Barrier. 



„ 67, (J,ad. sk. Jan. 31, 1902. „ 



„ 08, ^,ad. sk. Feb. 24, 1904. Cape Adare. Weathered and white. (Fig. 5, PI. XII.). 



„ 09, ?, ad. sk. Feb. 24, 1901. 



„ 70, ^,ad. sk. Jan. 31, 1902. Great Ice Barrier. Young bird. (Fig. 4, PI. XII.). 



„ 71, (J,ad. sk. Feb. 2,1903. McMurdo Sound. 



„ 72, (J , Imm. sk. Feb. 24, 1901. Cape Adare. Just able to fly. (Fig. 3, PI. XII.). 



„ 73, ?,ad. sk. Mar., 1903. McMurdo Sound. 



