Chap, viii.] CARRION BIRDS. 179 



SO together, to wait, and began fighting amongst themselves, as 

 if to settle which was to have first bite. 



The birds gorge themselves with food, just like the vultures, 

 and are then unable to fly. I came across half a dozen together 

 at Christmas Harbour in this condition. We landed just oppo- 

 site them ; they began to run to get out of the way. The men 

 chased them, they ran off, spreading their wings, but unable to 

 rise ; some struggled into the water and swam away, but two 

 went running on, gradually disgorging their food, in the utmost 

 hurry, until they were able to rise, when they made off to sea. 



The northern Fulmar {Fulmariis glacialis) seems to resemble 

 the " Breakbones " very closely in habits. Like it, it does not 

 nest in holes like most ProcellaridiC. It feeds in the high 

 north on carrion, and becomes so gorged with meat from a 

 whale's carcass as to be unable to fly without disgorging.* 



I was astonished at the comparatively small quantity of food, 

 that is, the smallness of the extra weight, which made all the 

 difference between the bird's not being able to rise at all, and 

 its being able to soar away with almost its usual power. It 

 would be interesting to test various birds with weights and 

 compare their power in this respect. A Procellarid though 

 so perfect a flyer is evidently very much below an Accipitrine 

 in strength in this matter. 



But the " Breakbones " were not the only birds which 

 assembled to feast on the remains of the Sea-Elephants. With 

 them came the Skuas, but not in great numbers, and multitudes 

 of gulls and Sheath-bills, which latter were the most impudent, 

 and the first to dare approach a dead cow Elephant which we 

 left on the rocks. The whole of the birds must have been dis- 

 appointed when they found we were not sealers, for they 

 apparently could not penetrate the skin of the dead cow, and 

 a day or two afterwards only the eyes were pecked out ; but the 

 Breakbones were then still hanging about the carcass, waiting, 

 though not in such numbers as before. 



On another day, beneath the cliffs, north of Betsy Cove, I 

 found a young Fur-Seal lying amongst some boulders at the 

 foot of the cliff. There was a broad flat shelf of rock here, 

 nearly level with the sea, and forming an excellent landing- 

 place for seals, so I was especially hunting for them, but 

 should have missed this one amongst the rocks, had it not 

 attracted my attention by a sort of half-hiss, half-snarl. I 

 killed it, and carried the whole beast with great labour to the 

 ship, half a mile or more, on my back, in order that a skeleton 

 should be made of it. 



On several occasions I superintended parties of stokers, who 

 * MacGillivray, " British Wat'ir Birds," Vol. II., p. 436. 



