^°'"l9i^"'] MvRVUY, Anatidce of South Georgia. 275 



dant and exceedingly tame on the east shore of Possession Bay, 

 several miles back from the ocean front. Here they fed in the 

 ponds and in the bare, wet runways between tussock hummocks. 

 Many times pairs came whizzing toward me down the wind, 

 wheeling to face it just before they settled on the ground or water, 

 generally within a few yards of me. I often startled parents with 

 their broods, and heard the sharp note of alarm as the ducklings 

 scampered to cover. Once a misguided skua pounced down upon 

 a female as she was fluttering lamely around me, but the duck flew 

 away with a bound and easily distanced her enemy. On other 

 occasions skuas carried off in their bills teals which the mate of 

 our vessel had just shot. Many previous collectors have likewise 

 been exasperated by this bold trick of the skua. 



On February 28, I discovered a teal's nest on top of a hummock, 

 close beside a pond and two hundred yards from the shore of 

 Possession Bay. It was covered by dead, standing blades of grass 

 which completely arched it over. The sitting duck peeped out 

 when I approached, but did not leave until I touched the hum- 

 mock. The nest was lined with dead grass and a very few feathers, 

 and held five eggs which lay with their small ends together in the 

 deep bowl. The eggs were rounded-ovate, and cream colored, 

 with a highly polished surface. Believing them to be heavily 

 incubated, I did not disturb them. 



Members of the German expedition of 1882-83 observed the 

 first pairing of the teals on November 19, the first eggs on December 

 8, and the first young on December 18. The majority of the young, 

 according to von den Steinen, were nearly full-grown by the end of 

 January; but newly hatched ducklings were seen again in the 

 middle of February, and one still in the down was noted as late as 

 March 15. Possibly the birds normally rear two broods, or it may 

 be that a second laying is often forced through the destruction of 

 the first eggs by skuas. 



Five eggs and young is the number reported by Lonnberg, and 

 the number that I noted invariably. The comparative smallness 

 of the brood conforms to a general state of affairs among birds of 

 the far south, where the struggle for existence may be considered 

 as peculiarly severe. Thus the Antarctic terns, both Sterna 

 vittata of South Georgia, and Sterna hirundinacea of the Powell 



