121 



of tlio foot, wliicli is Olio point that lias boon reliod upon, lessens 

 tlie probability of distinctness, especially as the ascribed colour- 

 ation does not coincide in every case with the dimensions. The 

 size and proportions of the examples examined, as carefully 

 measured in the flesh by Dr. Kidder, warrant me in adducing the 

 P. garnoti of Lesson as a synonym of P. uritiatrix ; to which I 

 still refrain from adding the P. berardi of Quoy and Gaimard." 



Mr. R B. Sliarpe however, holds a contrary opinion and in 

 the " Account of the Collections made \n Kerguelen's Land,"* 

 after giving the measurements of a number of the so-called species 

 from dirterent localities, writes " My conclusions differ from those 

 of ])r. Coues, insomuch that I consider that ]'. berardi is nothing 

 Init the young of P. tiriuatrix, and that P. garnoti on the contrary 

 must be held to be distinct on account of its very much larger 

 size ; at all events the examples from Western South America 

 indicate a distinct race." Dr. Coppinger in the Cruise of the 

 Alert, f records capturing a specimen of Pelecanoides urinatrix on 

 the west coast of Patagonia. 



However obscured the synonymy of Pelecanoides ihrinatrix 

 appears to be at present, it is interesting to know that its habits 

 and mode of nidification are not, owing chiefly to the many 

 scientific expeditions that have been sent to Kerguelen Island 

 to make observations during the Transit of Venus. During the 

 voyage of H.M.tS. Challenger, in 1874, Sir C. Wyville Thomsonj 

 writes : — " Tt is to be seen on the surface of the water in Royal 

 Sound when tlie water is calm in very large flocks. On two days 

 when excursions were made in the steam pinnace, the water was 

 seen to be covered with these birds in flocks, extending over acres, 

 which wei'e black with them." 



Dr. Kidder, who accompanied the United States Transit of 

 Venus Expedition sent to Kerguelen Island^ in the same year, 

 gives an account of their nesting habits, the eggs which he 

 describes measure as follows: — L62 x I'lo ; 1'62 x 1*27 ; L6G 

 X 1-2G; 1-65 x 1 •2."). The Rev. A. E. Eaton|| who accompanied 

 the expedition sent to the same island by Her Majesty's Govern- 

 ment, for the pui-pose of making observations during the Transit 

 of Venus, writes as follows respecting the nidification of this 

 species : — •" They had begun to pair when we reached Kerguelen 



* Sharpe, " Account of the collections made in Kerguelen's Land and 

 Rodriguez during the Transit of Venus Expeditions, in the years 1874-5, 

 p. 116." (1879)- 



t Coppinger, Cruise of the Alert, pp. 105-106, (1883). 



X Thomson, Voy. H.M.S. Challenger, Narr. of the Cruise, Vol. I., part 

 i., p. 350 (1885). 



§ Kidder and Coues, Bull. U.S. Nat.Mus. Nat. Hist. No. 2, of Kerguelen 

 Island, made in connection with the American Transit of Venus Expedi- 

 tion, 1874-5, p. 38, (1875); id. part ii., jip. 17, IS (187(;). 



II Eaton, Account of the collections made in Kerguelen's Land and 

 Rodriguez during the Transit of Venus Expeditions in the year 187-1-5, 

 p. 117 (1879). 



C— Marcli, 1891. 



