The Yellow-billed Sheathbill ov f he Irish Coast. 153 



The specimen taken at Carlingford was, doubtless, moulting, 

 as the wing and tail feathers were uneven, but according to 

 my friend, Mr. K. Williams, the old feathers, some of which 

 were not yet cast, showed no signs of captivity. The young 

 differ from the adults in having the papillae on the face absent, 

 or rudimentary. Not having had an opportunity of consult- 

 ing a series of specimens, I am unable to say whether the 

 Carlingford specimen had arrived at full maturity. Many 

 voyagers have remarked on the extraordinary odour of the 

 flesh and entrails of this bird, but the smell does not seem to 

 be an essential attribute, as others have not noticed it ; Mr. 

 Williams did not think it different from that of other aquatic 

 birds, whereas Mr. Tank declares that a specimen taken on 

 board a ship during a storm, when seventy miles off the coast 

 of Patagonia, and brought to him in a half-skinned condition, 

 had a most remarkable .stench, w^hich he compared to that of a 

 seal, and which was retained by the skin some time after 

 mounting. 



Both Mr. Williams and Mr. Tank affirm that there was a 

 quantity of fat under the skin, a peculiarity shared by most 

 birds inhabiting cold regions. 



Voyagers differ as to the quality of the flesh ; some com- 

 paring it with that of a duck, but others considering the odour 

 sufficient to condemn it. Mr. Williams remarked that it was 

 coarse and rank like that of an Oyster-catcher. The ^%% has 

 been described by Prof. Newton in the Proc. Zoo I. Soc. London. 

 I regret that I have not had an opportunity of consulting his 

 paper. 



Chionis alba lives like our Oyster- catcher, singly, or in 

 small flocks, on the shores of antarctic islands; it feeds on 

 moUusca, carrion, seaw^eed, and eggs. The mollusca in the 

 vStomach of one opened by Darwin, at Falkland, consisted 

 chiefly of Patellce. Can the odour exhaled by some specimens 

 be due to their carrion-feeding propensities, like that of our 

 Hooded Crow? 



Chionis alba inhabits the coast of Patagonia, the Falkland 

 Islands, and South Georgia; while eastward C. minor \,^k<^s\\s 

 place, inhabiting Kerguelen, the Crozettes, and Prince Edward 

 Island. Darwin and other voyagers remark the great distances 

 from land at which the bird is to be met wdth in the open 

 ocean, and, according to Prof. Newton, the most northerly 



B 



