164 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS: ZOOLOGY. 



on rising to the surface again flies away some few hundred yards, keeping 

 all the while close to the surface. Its flight is like that of the grebe, but 

 more feeble." 



Also from Moseley's Notes by a Naturalist on the "Challenger," page 

 209(1879). 



"On two days in which excursions were made in the steam pinnace, 

 the water was seen to be covered with these birds in flocks, extending 

 over acres, which were black with them. The habits of the northern 

 Little Auk are said to be closely similar to those of this bird ; so close is 

 the resemblance, that the whalers have transferred one of their familiar 

 names for the Little Auk to the Diving Petrel. The diving petrels dive 

 with extreme rapidity, and when frightened, get up and flutter along close 

 to the water, and drop and dive again. It is a curious sight to see a 

 whole flock thus taking flight. The birds make holes in the ground like 

 the Prions, and lay an egg white with a few red specks at one end. 

 They breed in enormous quantities on the islands in Royal Sound. 

 They are readily attracted by a light, and some were caught on board 

 through coming to the ship's lights." 



"Lays one egg in a burrow in the hill-side, generally selecting the same 

 locality as Halobcsna ccsrulea. Burrow is straight, slanting slightly down- 

 ward, and less deep than that of Halobccna. Egg is a regular ovoid, 

 tending in some specimens to ellipsoidal. First found December 10. 

 Shell is white, thin, brittle, compact, and homogeneous in structure. 

 No color-markings." (Natural History of Kerguelen Island, J. H. Kid- 

 der, M.D., Bull. No. 3, U. S. Nat. Mus., p. 17, 1876.) 



" Female : Antonio Islands, Trinidad Channel, February 17, 1879. Eyes 

 black ; bill black ; legs slate colour. Stomach containing small Crustacea. 



"Female.: Cockle Cove, October 16, 1879. Bill black; iris dark brown; 

 legs and feet slate-coloured. 



"The following are the dimensions of the adult specimen : — total length 

 8.5 inches, culmen 0.75, wing 4.9, tail 1.7, tarsus i. These measure- 

 ments exceed those of the specimens already in the Museum from the 

 Straits of Magellan, and appear to be intermediate between the ordinary 

 P. nyinatnx and the larger P. garnoti, which, after all, does not seem to 

 be a very distinct species." (Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 12.) 



"Two males. Feb. 7th, Molineux Sound. Iris black; bill black; tarsi 

 and toes blue-grey, with black line down back of tarsus, webs black. I 



