148 THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS. 



instance is furnished by the Cape Petrel [Daption 

 capeiisis), a species Sciid to breed on South Georgia. 

 Now it is all nonsense to attempt to explain these 

 northern migrations away by suggesting that 

 breeding-grounds of these birds remain yet to 

 be discovered in the Northern Hemisphere. The 

 migration of a Petrel from the Island of Desolation, 

 as Kerguelen is otherwise called, to the British Seas, 

 is no more wonderful than the flight of a Knot 

 from Grinnell Land to South Africa. So far then 

 from being in any way anomalous, these northern 

 miigrations are perfectly regular, and just what we 

 ou3-ht to hnd if our views on Migration are correct. 

 It must also be remembered that Petrels, the most 

 southerly breeding of birds, and consequently the 

 most northerly ranging during the antipodean 

 winter, are very similar in appearance to northern 

 species, apt to be overlooked, and are seldom shot 

 at a season when the collecting of sea birds in 

 British waters is forbidden by law. Again, our own 

 Petrels breeding furthest north retire in precisely 

 the same way to far southern latitudes, where they 

 are even less likely to be observed, being so 

 thoroughly oceanic in their habits. The Great 

 Shearwater [Pi{ffinus majoi-), for instance, breeds 

 as high as South Greenland, and has been obtained 

 near Cape Horn, although naturalists whose 

 knowledge of Migration Philosophy seems none 

 too extensive, have sought to cover the record with 

 discredit, and to imply an error in identification ! 

 The Dusky Shearwater [Piiffinus obscurus) breeds 



