572 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



and legs grey and the claws darker grey. The bill is light buff yellow with a few darker 

 spots at the base (Plate XLV, fig. 4). When being brooded by the parent they make 

 a feeble chirping cry. When disturbed they shuffle round in the nest so as to keep facing 

 the visitor, and, uttering a shrill straining cry, spit at him the contents of the stomach, 

 an oily mass of half-digested food. They are able to throw this a distance of four or 

 five feet. When hungry the young one puts its beak up to that of its parent and makes 

 a scraping sound with the bill closed : this sounds as though it is made right inside the 

 bird's body and not in the syrinx. The old one then brings up some of the stomach 

 contents into the throat. If the young one is small it puts its head into the parent's 

 mouth, but when it is bigger the parent brings the food into the bill, which it holds 

 open while the young one takes the food from the mandible. The young leave the nest 

 in March. 



There are three main phases of plumage in the Giant Petrel- — dark, light and inter- 

 mediate. The intermediate one is the most common in South Georgia, the next in 

 numbers being the dark one, while the light one is represented by a very small per- 

 centage. The colour phases mingle indiscriminately in nesting. The few white examples 

 found nesting in South Georgia were all paired with dark or intermediate ones. In the 

 South Orkney Islands, where the white phase is much more numerous, some white 

 ones were seen paired together, but this was evidently haphazard and only due to the 

 higher proportion of them, as others were seen paired with intermediate birds. 



The dark phase is a very dark chocolate brown and this is connected through all 

 shades of grey brown and grey to the light one, which is pure white with a few inter- 

 spersed dark feathers. The intermediate forms most commonly have the head and neck 

 very light grey, the back and wings grey brown and the belly grey. The beak of all 

 forms is greenish yellow ; the feet of the dark and intermediate forms dark grey, those 

 of the light form being very light grey. In all the iris is light greenish buff. 



On land this species walks with difficulty, the tarsus being kept inclined at an angle 

 with the perpendicular, unless the bird is hurried, when the tarsus approaches the 

 vertical. When sitting the tarsus is horizontal on the ground. When the bird is walking 

 the wings are kept half opened to assist in keeping the balance, while the tail is bent 

 up at right angles to the back. Giant Petrels cannot rise on to the wing off the level; 

 if they are on the sea they run along the surface, flapping their wings and paddling 

 with the feet for a hundred yards, until they gain sufficient momentum to rise. If they 

 are feeding on the beach they have to return to the water to take a run before they can 

 fly. They sit on the water to preen the feathers and wash themselves. They bathe by 

 half spreading the wings and then tipping forward and ducking the head under. They 

 then bob up and a quantity of water is thrown on to the back along which it runs to 

 the tail between the half open wings. 



These petrels are very greedy and will gorge themselves with carrion until they are 

 so heavy that they cannot fly. They then sit on the water until they have digested 

 sufficient of their meal to lighten themselves, but if they are approached before this 

 has happened they paddle away with half open wings, and if closely pursued vomit 



