sSo DISCOVERY REPORTS 



amount of earth and gravel with larger stones, such as in accumulations of moraine 

 material high up on the hillsides and as much as a mile from the sea (Plate LIII, fig. 3). 

 The burrow is up to four feet in length and usually twists and bends. No nest is 

 made in the chamber at the end, but the single, white, nearly spherical egg is laid on 

 the bare earth so that it gets discoloured by contact with the ground. Before the egg is 

 laid both birds are to be found in the burrows, but afterwards only one. The eggs are 

 laid at the beginning of December and one, still unhatched, containing a chick on the 

 point of breaking through, was found on February 12th, 1926. On the same date 

 nestlings in down were found in other burrows. Both sexes take part in incubation. 



The nestlings are clothed in long ashy grey down and have a bare patch on the 

 throat and sides of the head and neck, but the head is kept drawn down so that in 

 life these patches are invisible. The eyes are not open when the young are hatched. 

 The bill is black and the feet are grey with buff webs (Plate XLVII, fig. i). They make 

 a very feeble chirping cry when the burrow is opened, but the adults were not heard 

 to utter any sound. 



The adult has the bill black and iris dark brown, the legs and toes blue, webs dark 

 grey, and claws black (Plate XLVII, fig. 2). 



Catharacta lonnbergi clarkei, Mathews 



Antarctic Skua 



(Plate XLVII, figs. 3, 4; Plate LIII, fig. 4; Plate LIV, fig. i) 



This bird is very common in South Georgia from September to May. It is absent 

 in the winter. Like all gulls it does not go far to sea but haunts the coasts and shores, 

 feeding on carrion and the eggs and young of other birds. 



Nesting commences in November, the nests being placed on the ground amongst 

 tussac at the top of a small hill or slope. The nest is built of tussac and moss, with a 

 few feathers and bits of dried kelp. After the middle of November the eggs are laid, 

 usually two, sometimes three, olive brown with blotches and spots of brown and grey. 

 A set was found on December 30th, 1925, with embryos nearly ready for hatching. 

 The day previous new hatched chicks were found in another nest and also several chicks 

 which had already left the nest. 



The Skuas are very rapacious, and are always on the look-out for some unprotected 

 nest from which they can steal eggs or young. They haunt the penguin rookeries and 

 any exposed egg is quickly pounced upon, and they kill and devour large numbers of 

 the young when they are hatched. They are a scourge to the Whale Birds and Diving 

 Petrels, any unwary example of which that leaves its burrow or returns to it, when it 

 is not quite dark, is relentlessly pursued and devoured in the air. In pursuing a bird 

 the Skua shows great skill in following every twist and turn as the victim tries to escape. 

 Round one Skua's nest on Bird Island fifty pairs of Whale Birds' wings were counted 

 and there were many more, besides those of some Diving Petrels. Skuas were also 

 seen to chase, but not to kill, the Cape Hens. 



