4 Mr. 11. Hall on (he 



tlie hill-side now appeared as if a liard brush had heen passed 

 over the place. If fishes are plentiful here, it is only a Cormo- 

 rant that can catch tlicm, for, in fact, the only fish 1 got I stole 

 from a Cormorant. 



A very young bird, long before leaving the nest, I found 

 to be troubled in the same way as the adult, by having 

 worms in the stomach. 



Of the three stages that I noticed, the fcatherless young 

 on December 31st, 1897, was jet-black, excepting the pink 

 under the chin. The fledgeling, on January Gth, 1898, was 

 black, with a tinge of grey on lower portions; forehead 

 feathcrless ; chin slate-blue ; bill blue-black, with anterior 

 portion horn-blue ; feet brownish black, with a tinge of blue 

 next the claws, which were blue, with tips black. Iris paler 

 blue than in adult. In the young, when able to fly, on 

 February 8tli, 1898, the plumage varied from dark brown to 

 metallic blue ; back of neck, chest, and abdominal parts 

 showed white ; legs and feet had a faint wash of brick-red over 

 all ; bill dark bluish on lower mandible. The yellow 

 caruncles had not yet appeared, but I noticed the yellow 

 showing as the black feathers were moulted from the ventral 

 surface. 



While fresh eggs were in a rookery (January 9th), young, 

 several weeks old, were maturing in other nests of the same 

 colony. Mr. Eaton collected fresh eggs in the middle of 

 November, and I saw them in several rookeries between 

 the 8th and 10th of January. On the 15tli of that month a 

 large colony was about to leave its dwellings, and on 

 Februaiy 16th the nests in a fair-sized rookery had just 

 become tenantless, though the birds still stayed about the spot. 

 Neither before nor after did I observe any white on the 

 transalar fascia, although I saw hundreds of mature birds. 

 Of the eggs, several showed such small measurements as — 

 "(«) 2*7xl*6 inch; {b) 2*05 x 1*55 inch; and an abnormal 

 one had its diameter r2, axis 1'8 inch. 



Dafila eatoni (Sharpe); Salvad. Cat. B. xxvii. p. 278. 

 Although this Duck is shy at times, it is also of an inquiring 

 mind. On January 2Gth Mr. Gundersen and I had been 



