236 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS: ZOOLOGY. 



ized in a live or freshly killed bird, hence we have quoted such a diagnosis 

 from a famous field naturalist, to complete the theme. Appended is Dr. 

 Cunningham's account of this bird. 



"At about 3 P. M. on the 17th of November, 1867, Cape Virgins, the 

 eastern entrance to the Strait of Magellan, was sighted. As we entered 

 the Strait and approached Dungeness Spit, a most remarkable spectacle 

 was furnished by a herd of between fifty and sixty sea-lions assembled 

 on the shelving beach ; and soon after someone pointed out several so- 

 called 'pigeons' flying about not far from us. These, which it was very 

 pardonable to mistake for pigeons, from the resemblance in flight and 

 colouring, I immediately recognized as the sheathbill [Chionis alba), which 

 we did not meet with on the previous season. This interesting bird forms 

 one of two species of a genus, regarding the true position of which in the 

 ornithological system considerable difference of opinion has been enter- 

 tained by ornithologists — some placing it among the Gallinae, while 

 others, and I think with more reason, are disposed to regard it as belong- 

 ing to the Grallae and allied to Haematopus. The above species, which 

 derives its English name from the peculiar form of the upper mandible, 

 was first described by Forster, and is mentioned in Cook's Voyage toward 

 the South Pole in 1772-75, as having been found at Staten Land. Cook 

 remarks very truly that the bird 'is about the size of a pigeon, and as 

 white as milk,' and mentions that it has a very disagreeable smell, a cir- 

 cumstance also commented on by Mr. Darwin, but which I did not notice 

 in the two specimens which I had an opportunity of examining. The 

 legs are long, of a blackish-gray colour, and bear a considerable resem- 

 blance to those of an oyster-catcher (Haematopus). They feed on 

 molluscs and other marine animals, and are often to be seen far out at 

 sea to the south of Cape Horn. In the Strait of Magellan, however, they 

 do not appear to be common, as I only noticed them on one or two occa- 

 sions." (Voyage of H.M.S. "Nassau" in the years 1866, '67, '68 and 

 '69. Robert O. Cunningham, M.D., F.L.S., Naturalist to the Expedition, 

 Edinburgh, 1871.) 



Darwin, observing the White Sheathbill during the voyage of the 

 "Beagle," writes regarding it: 



"I opened the stomach of a specimen at the Falkland Islands, and 

 found in it small shells, chiefly Patellae, pieces of sea-weed, and several 

 pebbles. The contents of the stomach and body smelt most offensively. 



