THE BIRDS OF SOUTH GEORGIA 579 



Prion banksi, Gould 



Banks' Whale Bird 



(Plate LIII, fig. 2) 



All the specimens of the genus Prion from South Georgia examined by the writer 

 belong to this species (Plate LIII, fig. 2). 



The bill is blue, the dorsal part black and the tip buff; the mandible is black. The 

 iris is dark brown. The feet are blue, the webs buff with grey outer markings. 



Prion desolatus, Gmel. 



The German Expedition of 1882-3 (Pagenstecher, 1885, p. 23) found this species 

 breeding at Royal Bay "in burrows like a rabbit warren". Eggs and many advanced 

 embryos were collected in January and it was found that the young did not leave the 

 burrow until the beginning of May. 



The Swedish South Polar Expedition also collected a specimen of this species in 

 Cumberland Bay in April, 1902. 



Halobaena caerulea, Gmel. 



Blue Petrel 



This species has not been recorded as breeding at South Georgia. Several were seen 

 on the wing two miles off the entrance to Cumberland Bay on November 30th, 1926. 

 They may have been H. miirphyi, a species described from a specimen taken at Strom- 

 ness Bay, South Georgia, in 1913 ; but it is impossible to distinguish it from H. caerulea 

 on the wing (Brooks, 1917, p. 146). When flying they can easily be distinguished from 

 Prions by the square-shaped tail with terminal white band. 



Pelecanoides georgicus. Murphy & Harper 



Diving Petrel 



(Plate XLVII, figs, i, 2; Plate LIII, fig. 3) 



The Diving Petrel is common in South Georgian waters all the year round and 

 breeds plentifully on the island. This species, like the Whale Birds, is eaten in large 

 quantities by the Antarctic Skuas, so that when nesting it has to adopt nocturnal habits, 

 and the nest burrows are dug at night. At sea it is usually only seen on the wing when 

 disturbed by the passage of the ship. In diving they use the wings to swim under 

 water and can fly into and out of it as though the two mediums were one. The food 

 consists of small planktonic animals. 



This species comes ashore to nest in the second half of November. It nests in 

 burrows dug in places where there is little or no vegetation, but where there is a fair 



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