1 68 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS! ZOOLOGY. 



"We found this bird (the Goney of the whalers) nesting at Marion 

 Island, Possession Island, and Kerguelen ; and during our cruises in the 

 Southern and Antarctic Oceans, it was an almost constant follower of the 

 ship, except to the south of Heard Island, and in the immediate neighbour- 

 hood of the Antarctic ice. Its habitat seems especially to be the westerly 

 winds of the Southern Ocean. The nests were at Kerguelen generally 

 scattered about on the mossy slopes of the headlands, and were often 

 three hundred feet above the sea. 



"The nests are about one foot high, and two feet in diameter, and are 

 built of earth, grass, Azorella, and decayed vegetable matter. The nests 

 are widely separated from each other, that is to say, that I never saw two 

 nests nearer to each other than fifty yards. We found one fg^ in each 

 nest; I saw no young during our visit (January). The Whalers told us 

 that they were very fond of the young Goneys, and ate great numbers of 

 them ; they were the best eating of any of the birds. 



"They seem to have considerable difficulty in rising on the wing, from the 

 places where they build their nests. I noticed several run for over two 

 hundred yards with extended wings before they got fairly off. On many 

 of our specimens there was a beautiful rose tinge on each side of the head. 



" The heaviest specimen we weighed was 19 pounds and measured 1 1-6 

 from tip to tip of the wings." (O. Salvin, Rep. Bds. Voy. "Chall." Vol. 

 II. pt. viii. p. 147, 1 88 1.) 



Cunningham in "Notes on the Natural History of the Straits of Ma- 

 gellan and West Coast of Patagonia, page 329 (1871) " writes : 



"On the 26th the wind gradually fell, and there was a very heavy 

 swell ; but by the morning of the 27th the sea had gone down, and it was 

 nearly dead calm throughout the day, and beautifully bright and warm. 

 A most remarkable spectacle was furnished by the flocks of albatrosses 

 [Diomedea exulans), which were peacefully resting on the calm surfacs 

 of the water around the ship. Though the appearance of these birde 

 when on the wing is very fine, they look singularly awkward when swim- 

 ming, their great heavy heads, and large strong beaks, suggesting a 

 child's first attempts at drawing water-fowl. At one time about twenty 

 of them were close astern of us, growling hoarsely as they fought over 

 the garbage thrown overboard from time to time. Several were taken on 

 baited lines, and hauled in with considerable difficulty, as they struggled 

 most vigorously, aiming violent blows at their captors with their powerful 



