178 BIRDS OF TASMANIA. 



climates than we have seen since we entered the ice. At Cape 

 Adare it is true that we saw a number, and among them all 

 varieties of shade, from the white albino to the chequered grey 

 and the dark individuals, of which some were dark all over, even to 

 blackness, and others had light-coloured heads and necks, con- 

 trasting with their darker bodies. It is strange that we should 

 have found here a dozen or so of this albino variety, for a white 

 Giant Petrel was considered a great rarity by the members of the 

 Southern Cross Expedition, nor was more than one seen there 

 during the Vv'hole time of their stay at Cape Adare. The Nellie 

 has never been found nesting so far south of the Circle, but breeds 

 freely at most of the islands that lie a short way north of it. 

 Variability is its marked characteristic, far more so than it is of 

 the Skua, whose changes bear some relation to the age of the 

 individual. It appears, however, that the variations in the Giant 

 Petrel are independent of sex and age, and it maj' result in some 

 way from the safety it enjoys from enemies that it has no need in 

 the economy of life to maintain any definite colouring, and there- 

 fore individual variation has full play." 



Howard Saunders, in his "Antarctic Manual," writes: — 

 " The Giant Petrel, which approaches the larger species of 

 Albatross in size, was observed by Dr. M'Cormick soaring over 

 Possession Island, Victoria Land, and the Belgica found it a 

 constant attendant in the ice-pack. The ' Nelly,' as sealers call it, 

 is, in fact, the Vulture of the sea, visiting every spot where car- 

 casses and refuse of seals and Penguins, or any other means of 

 subsistence, can be found. Its breeding and habits on IMarion 

 and Kerguelen Islands have been described by Moseley and others, 

 and the bird probably nests on Heard Island. Webster found it on 

 Deception Island, South Shetlands, from January to jNIarch ; and, 

 as regards South Georgia, where the eggs are laid in the beginning 

 of November, the practical Weddell remarks that these are inferior 

 to those of other species. The beak of this voracious bird is very 

 powerful, and assertions have often been made by sailors that it 

 will attack a drowning man and accelerate his death. Dr. 

 M'Cormick states that when, after leaving Kerguelen, the boat- 

 swain of the Erebus fell overboard and could not be saved, the 

 Giant Petrels swooped at him as he struggled to keep afloat, and 

 it is doubtful if they did not actually strike him with their bills ; 

 while Mr. Arthur G. Guillemard states that a sailor who was 

 picked up had his arms badly lacerated in defending his head from 

 the attacks of an ' Albatross,' which may have been this Giant 

 Petrel." 



Mr. Borchgrevink, in " First on the Antarctic Continent," says : 

 — "The Gigantic Petrels also visited Camp Ridley. They were 

 very scarce during the summer. We did not find one of their nests, 

 and their visits to the peninsula were always short and interrupted, 

 and, to a great extent, I ascribe their visits to Robertson Bay and 



