Birds of Kerguelen Island. 3 



ensued. Only when actually pushed off the eliff-side did the 

 birds take wing. 



In the rookery the pairs belonging to each nest show 

 mutual and constant attention, one standing and the mate 

 sitting, while both fondle with the bill and occasionally 

 preen each other's feathers. When a Great Skua Gull flies 

 above a rookery in search of something to eat, there is a 

 rising of necks and a low chorus of calls. The Skua knows 

 the danger in a bite from the strong beak, and keeps out of 

 reach, while it struts among the nests to find an c^^ exposed. 

 At a fatal moment the Skua observes the Cormorant leave 

 its nest, and at that instant is down and carries off a 

 fresh egg, which is quickly cracked and swallowed whole. 

 The Skua has the audacity to stay in the rookery, where 

 the loss of an egg does not appear to cause any special com- 

 motion among the other birds. On that side of the rookery 

 on which a Skua stands all birds are '^ faces front,^' and 

 according as the position changes all the white portions 

 of the plumage of the Cormorants are towards you, then all 

 blacks, or, again, a blend of blacks and whites. The largest 

 rookery observed contained about 180 birds, sitting or stand- 

 ing, and, with the exception of some eight immature examples, 

 they appeared to be in the dress of maturity. The young 

 birds were without the orange caruncles. The nests, 45 to 50 

 in number, each contained two or three eggs, rarely four. 

 When I disturbed one bird from its nest, another Avould come 

 and steal the lining. In passing through the closely-packed 

 rookery the birds objected to being pushed from their nests, 

 but offered no resistance beyond that of their own w^eight. A 

 typical nest measured 13 inches extreme diameter, 8 inches 

 across internally, with a depth of 3 inches ; the lining was 

 of marine weeds. From this rookery, for food and natural- 

 history purposes, we carried away some 75 eggs, leaving a 

 few clutches only (January 1st). On th:; 3rd of February I 

 again visited the same rookery, and observed that the few 

 remaining eggs had been hatched, while the young were now 

 rapidly developing. All the soft portions of the other nests 

 had been entirely taken away by the birds, and this part of 



b2 



