during a Voijage to New Zealand. 191 



observed in them by which they could be recognized again : — 

 March 9th, a T. leachi (?) caught and let go with a white ribbon 

 round its neck. April 6th, an Albatros caught and let go 

 with a red ribbon round its neck. April 7th, a young Albatros 

 caught and let go with a blue ribbon round its neck. Saw an 

 old Albatros that had lost the second feather of its right wing, 

 also a young one with only one leg. April 1 6th, saw a P. mollis 

 with a white spot near the point of the right wing, also a young 

 Albatros with a broken feather in its left wing. April 26th, 

 saw a D. melanop/nys with the last joint of its right wing 

 broken. May 1st, saw a D. fuliginosa that had rubbed off the 

 feathers from its right wing near the shoulder, and another that 

 had lost the two middle feathers of its tail. May 2nd, caught 

 a T. melanog aster ; let it go with a green ribbon round its neck. 

 May 3rd, caught a T. melanogaster ; let it go with a red ribbon 

 round its neck. May 7th, saw a Z). fuliginosa that had lost a 

 feather from the middle of its right wing. May loth, caught a 

 Cape-Pigeon ; let it go with a red ribbon round its neck. 

 June 3rd, saw a D. chlororhynchus that had lost a feather from 

 the middle of its left wing. None of these birds were seen 

 again during the voyage *. 



Birds are often seen in the morning which leave the ship in 

 the course of the day ; and I think therefore that it may be 

 safely inferred that for birds to follow a ship for several days 

 together is the exception, and not the rule. If this be admitted 

 there will be no difficulty in allowing them to sleep at night 

 whether in the air, on land, or on the water. That the first is 

 impossible I showed in my former paper (Ibis, 1865, pp. 294- 

 295), and the distance of the land would generally put the 

 second out of the question ; the third therefore alone remains 

 probable. The occasional roughness of the water can be no 



* [Some of these experiuieuts are perhaps inconclusive j for it seems 

 just possible that the decorations may have had the effect of frightening 

 the wearers to death. I have known the case of a Raven — a bird cer- 

 tainly not less courageous than a Petrel — caught by a shepherd and 

 liberated unhurt, but with a white fillet hung loosely round its neck. 

 That bird was never seen again alive. Some days after, I found its dead 

 body, on which there was not the slightest trace of any injury, — A. X.] 



