26 Mr. R. Hall on the 



their bulky bodies ; and their wings are held in more varying 



attitudes than is the case with any other bird observed here. 

 When frightened from the carcasses they run off as quickly 

 as their legs will carry them to the water, then swim a short 

 distance^ and either fly or swim farther out, in a flock of from 

 40 to 60 birds. I do not incline to the belief that these birds 

 have gorged themselves so much that they are incapable of 

 flying, because many times, in the rookeries by the water's 

 edge, I have noted them to act in this manner when they had 

 not fed for an hour or more. Certainly, when they have 

 worked head and shoulders into a seal's carcass and have 

 become bespattered with blood, they object to fly unless 

 hard pressed j but my observations lead me to consider that 

 not flying when quietly driven along the ground is dvie to 

 their habits rather than to satiety. They vomit freely when 

 frightened. Mr. Gundersen and I, one day, came suddenly 

 upon one that was isolated at the head o£ a very small bay 

 with cliff-sides. The moment we appeared on one cliff, some 

 75 yards from it, the bird considered its passage cut off, and 

 immediately stnrted disgorging oily substances. After a short 

 time, it rushed past us and swam out a long way. To see 

 some forty sitting on the water, washing their heads after a 

 seal-feast, is a striking sight, the birds seeming to be up and 

 down just like a quantity of large brown corks ; and to get 

 force for the head dip, a little jump is made by means of 

 the feet. Unlike the Skua, these birds run away from the 

 banquet when disturbed, and waddle into the water, remaining 

 there until the stranger has gone. 



Since the date of the expeditions to observe the Transit 

 of Venus, the birds of Long Island have shifted their rookery 

 from the S.W. to the N.E. end of it. Having ascended the 

 short eastern summit, I noticed near the bottom of a wind- 

 sheltered slope a fine colony. To commence with, I surprised 

 two just below the crest, and they started running with wings 

 outstretched bvit not flapping, and continued, w'ith short 

 stoppages, several hundred yards to the beach, keeping just 

 ahead of me. Of the colony, some birds were sitting and 

 others standing, a few with expanded wings, and others 



