450 Murphy, Birds of the South Atlantic. [oct. 



broken crest came along, the birds did not attempt to dive 

 through it, but arose from the water at the last moment, flew 

 through the spume of the comber, and alighted on the downward 

 slope beyond. 



November 20, lat. 50° 12' S., long. 34° 47' W. Wind still south- 

 westerly but moderating. The first Diving Petrels or 'Divers' 

 (Pelecanoides urinatrix) were recorded, two passing us during the 

 afternoon. 



At evening four examples of Phoehetria palpebrata, two of Diomedea 

 melanophrys, a,nd four of Thalassogeron culminatus flew round about 

 us, and contended more or less for a trailing bait, but we could hook 

 none of them securely. Nine times out of ten the ubiquitous 

 'Cape Pigeons' succeeded in stealing the baits from the lines 

 before the 'Mollymokes' could disperse them. One 'Cape Pig- 

 eon' alighted in the stern whale boat where it squatted on the 

 whole length of its metatarsus, and was unable to rise into flight. 

 I caught it in my hands. The bill in this species is comparatively 

 soft but the captive nevertheless drew my blood with the sharp .nail 

 of its maxilla. It also scratched with its feet, but not so severely 

 as ProceUaria oequinoctialis. One of the latter tore a shred of skin 

 from a sailor's arm with its powerful claws. 



The Sooty Albatrosses (Phoehetria) were the wariest of the large 

 birds. They quarreled among themselves when on the water, and 

 uttered weird, trumpet-like calls. They would not dive for food, 

 but they seized floating oakum, bits of paper, etc., and shook them 

 in the water so that the foam flew. Three of these birds alighted 

 successively astern, and solemnly picked up a chip of wood, possibly 

 in order to determine whether it were something edible. The 

 ' Sooty's ' broken, white, orbital ring gives it a wide-eyed, perpetu- 

 ally astonished expression. 



The four culminatus ' Mollymokes ' dived so deeply for bait that 

 only their tails and the tips of their wings projected above the 

 surface. 



During the early evening the quartet of Sooty Albatrosses flew 

 across our deck amidships several times, and watching my oppor- 

 tunity I shot one so that it fell into the arms of a sailor. 



November 21, lat. 51° 37' S., long. 34° 56' W. Southwesterly 

 winds. After noon three Sooty Albatrosses {Phoehetria) overtook 



