SHEA THBILL %y- 



1841, p. 5; 1842, p. 402, pi. 2) ^ as G. minor, is smaller in size, 

 with plumage just as white, but having the bill and bare skin of 

 the face black and the legs much darker. The form of the bill's 

 " sheath " in the two species is also quite different, for in C. alba it 

 is almost level throughout, while in C. minor it rises in front like 

 the pommel of a saddle. Of the habits of the western and larger 

 species not much has been recorded. It gathers its food, consist- 

 ing chiefly, as Darwin and others have told us, of seaweeds and • 

 shell-fish, on rocks at low water ; but it is also known to eat birds' 

 eggs. There is some curiously conflicting evidence as to the flavour 

 of its flesh, some asserting that it is wholly uneatable, and others 

 that it is palatable, — a difference which may possibly be due to 

 the previous diet of the particular example tasted, to the skill of 

 the cook or the need of the taster. Though most abundant as 

 a shore -bird, it is frequently met with far out at sea, as by 

 Fleurieu {Voy. de Marchand, i. p. 19), in lat. 44° S., some 260 

 miles from the eastern coast of Patagonia. It is not uncommon 

 on the Falkland Isles, where it is said to breed {Ibis, 1861, 

 p. 154), though confirmation of the report is as yet wanting, 

 and from thence is found at both extremities of the Strait of 

 Magellan, and southward to Louis-Philippe Land in lat. 60° S. 

 On the other hand, thanks to the naturalists of the British and 

 United States expeditions to Kerguelen Land for the observation 

 of the transit of Venus in 1874, especially Mr. Eaton (Fhilos. Trans. 

 clxviii. pp. 103-105) and Dr. Kidder (Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1875, 

 No. 2, pp. 1-4), much more has been recorded of the eastern and 

 smaller species, which had already been ascertained by Mr. Layard 

 {Proc. Zool. Soc. 1871, p. 57, pi. iv. fig. 7) to breed on the Crozet 

 Islands,^ and was found to do so still more numerously on Kei'- 

 guelen, while it probably frequents Prince Edward's Islands for 

 the same purpose. The eggs, of which a considerable number have 

 now been obtained, though of peculiar appearance, bear an unmis- 

 takable likeness to those of some Plovers, while occasionally ex- 

 hibiting a resemblance — of little significance, however — to those of 

 the Tropic-birds. 



The systematic position of the Sheathbills has been the subject 

 of much hesitation — almost useless since 1836, when De Blainville 

 (Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 2, vi. p. 97) made known certain anatomical 

 facts . proving their affinity to the Oyster -CATCHERS, though 



^ Lesson {loe. cit.) cites a brief but correct indication of this species as 

 observed by Lesquin {Lycee Armoricain, x. p. 36) on Crozet Island, and, not 

 suspecting it to be distinct, was at a loss to reconcile the discrepancies of the 

 latter's description with that given of the other species by earlier authors. 



^ A previous announcement of the discovery of its egg {Ibia, 1867, p. 458) 

 was premature, the specimen, now in my possession, proving to be that of a 

 Gull — a fact unknown to the American writer named above. 



53 



