THEIR DISTRIBUTION AND FOOD. 97 



special notice here^ a small blue petrel^ closely 

 resembling- P. ccerulea, from whicli it may readily 

 be disting-uished by av anting* the ^vhite tips to the 

 central tail feathers. It turns out to be the P. 

 desolafay known only by a drawing* in the British 

 Museum made more than half a century ag*o^ from 

 which this species w^as characterised. When in 

 lat. 50'' 46' S. and lono-. 97'' 47' W. I saw P. 

 antarctica for the first time ; one or two individuals 

 were in daily attendance while roanding* Cape Horn 

 and followed the ship until we sig'hted the Falkland 

 Islands. I had lono* been lookino- out for P. 

 glacialoides, which in due time made its appearance 

 — a beautiful lig'ht g'rey petrel, larg-er than a pig-eon ; 

 it continued with us between the latitudes of 40° 

 and 58° S. and occasionally pecked at a baited 

 hook towing astern. 



. One may naturally wonder what these petrels 

 can procure for food in the ocean to the southward 

 of 35° south latitude, where they are perhaps more 

 numerous than elsewhere, and where the voyag*er 

 never sees any surface-swimming- fishes which the}' 

 mig'ht pick up ? It is, of course, well known that 

 they eag'erly pounce upon an}^ scraps of animal 

 matter in the wake of a vessel, hence it is reasonable 

 to suppose that they follow ships for the purpose of 

 picking* up the oifal, but they may also be seen 

 similarly following* in the wake of whales and droves 

 of the larg*er porpoises. Almost invariably I have 

 found in the stomach of the many kinds of alba- 



VOL. II. H 



