192 Capt. F. W. Hutton on Birds seen during a Voijage. 



objection ; for these birds seem just as much at home sitting on 

 the water in the heaviest gale with the foam flying over them as 

 when floating calmly on a mirror-like sea ; and during the 

 voyage I made the following observations, which tend to corro- 

 borate this view : — 



On the 22nd April at 6 p.m., about three-quarters of an hour 

 after sunset, we passed five of Diomedea melanophrys sitting close 

 together on the water, although we had only seen one before 

 during the course of the day. As the ship came near them they 

 all rose together like a covey of Partridges, evidently frightened, 

 and flew straight away — although they often alight much closer 

 to the ship than they were when they got up. I feel pretty 

 sure that these birds were settled for the night. 



Again, on the afternoon of the 25th April we passed a P. 

 aquinoctialis apparently asleep on the water. When the ship 

 came near him he took his head from under his wing and stared 

 at us, but did not get up. This bird might have been only 

 preening his feathers ; but I think that he was asleep, for the 

 Cape-Pigeon {Daption capensis) is the only Petrel that I have 

 seen preen its feathers on the water. 



Again, early on the morning of the 29th April I saw a 

 D. melanophrys sitting on the water ahead of the ship. When 

 we came up to it, it got up and followed us ; and as it is very 

 unusual to see them in the water except astern of the ship, I 

 think it is likely that it had slept there. Again, on the 11th 

 May at 9 a.m. we passed five of D. fuliginosa var. cornicoides 

 sitting on the water ; two got up as the ship passed, one settled 

 down again, and the other followed the ship. 



I also took some pains to ascertain whether any birds followed 

 the ship at night, and found that, as a general rule, no birds 

 were in sight at daybreak, and few before 8 o'clock a.m. ; after 

 this their number gradually increased until the afternoon, when 

 they were generally most numerous. At sunset they began to 

 disappear, few remaining after 7 p.m., and seldom any after 

 8 P.M., and it is rare to see one after 10 p.m. Sometimes, 

 however, on bright moonlight nights, Cape-Pigeons, when they 

 have been numerous during the day, are seen flying round the 

 ship all night ; and two or three were caught during the middle 



