138 ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE. 



in its movements ; — sometimes they appeared in vast numbers, and on the next 

 day not one was to be seen. At Port Famine, every morning and evening, a long 

 band of these birds continued to fly with extreme rapidity, up and down the 

 central parts of the channel, close to the surface of the water. Their flight was 

 direct and vigorous, and they seldom glided with extended wings in graceful 

 curves, like most other members of this family. Occasionally, they settled for a 

 short time on the water ; and they thus remained at rest during nearly the whole 

 of the middle of the day. When flying backwards and forwards, at a 

 distance from the shore, they evidently were fishing : but it was rare to see them 

 seize any prey. They are very wary, and seldom approach within gun-shot of a 

 boat or of a ship; — a disposition strikingly different from that of most of the other 

 species. The stomach of one, killed near Port Famine, was distended with seven 

 prawn-like crabs, and a small fish. In another, killed off" the Plata, there was 

 the beak of a small cuttle-fish. I observed that these birds, when only slightly 

 winged, were quite incapable of diving. There is no difference in the plumage of 

 the sexes. The web between the inner toes, with the exception of the margin, is 

 " reddish-lilac-purple ;" the rest being blackish. Legs and half of the lower man- 

 dible blackish purple. From accounts which I have received, the individuals of 

 this species, which live in the Northern Hemisphere, appear to have exactly 

 the same habits as those above described. 



1. Pelecanoides Berardi. G. R. Gray. 



Puffinuria Berardi, Less. Tr. d'Orn. p. G14. 

 Procellaria Berardi, Quoy et Gaim. Voy. dej)!. 31 



This bird is common in the deep and quiet creeks and inland seas of Tierra 

 del Fuego, and on the west coast of Patagonia, as far north as the Chonos 

 Archipelago. I never saw but one in the open sea, and that was between Tierra 

 del Fuego and the Falkland Islands. This bird is a complete auk in its habits, 

 although from its structure it must be classed with the Petrels. To the latter Mr. 

 Gould informs me, its affinity is clearly shewn by the form of its beak and 

 nostrils, length of foot, and even by the general colouring of its plumage. To the 

 auks it is related in the general form of its body, its short wings, shape of tail, 

 and absence of hind-toe to the foot. When seen from a distance and undisturbed, 

 it would almost certainly be mistaken, from its manner of swimming and frequent 

 diving, for a grebe. When approached in a boat, it generally dives to a distance, 

 and on coming to the surface, with the same movement takes flight : having flown 

 some way, it drops like a stone on the M^ater, as if struck dead, and instan- 

 taneously dives again. No one seeing this bird for the first time, thus diving 



