302 Martin, Description of a Species of Procellaria. LJuly 



Mr. Anderson designates this bird as Larus marinus maximus, 

 e.v albo, nigro &fuseo varius, groenlandicus. 1 See the same accounts, 

 pag. 173. 



It might not be out of place to quote briefly what the Burgo- 

 master, on pag. 168, has to relate about the behavior of a live 

 specimen which he had secured. The following is an extract of 

 the account: "In the year 1753 I obtained a live Mallemuke; 

 he knew how to act in both good and bad weather and always 

 seemed to relish his food exceedingly well. He was very greedy 

 of raw meat, and devoured entire fishes and large pieces of flesh; 

 the food was quickly digested and he soon voided his excrements, 

 whereupon his appetite immediately returned. He fought bravely 

 with both cats and rats, etc., dealt out savage jabs with his big 

 beak, and whenever he had secured a cat by the tail he treated 

 it so roughly that it cried out for mercy; for this reason all such 

 animals sought safety in flight when they caught sight of him. In 

 the presence of man he was only shy, although not unreasonably 

 so, but toward those who provided him with food he was tame and 

 docile. I afterward brought the bird to an artist for the purpose 

 of having a drawing made of it, and on this occasion he seemed to 

 be in low spirits and did not desire to eat, but upon our return 

 home he ran up to my coachman, who had often been kind to him, 

 and acted as if glad of having returned to his old acquaintances. 

 As often as he was teased with a piece of white cloth, the bird cried 

 out sharp and loud." 



Further Experience of its Properties. 



We first noticed these birds between 62 and 63 degrees north 

 latitude, and they accompanied us by flying around the ship until 

 we reached Spitzbergen, and even when we were as high as 79-80 

 degrees [north lat.]. Where no other living thing was to be seen, 

 these birds were flying between the ice-floes. The bird is one of 

 those which have been provided by the Almighty Creator to cleanse 

 the sea from the dead and stinking carcasses of whales. 



1 The Procellaria glacialis of Linnaeus is based on this bird. (Vide supra.) 

 See also Brunnich, Orn. Bor., No. 118, p. 29. His note, however, evidently refers 

 to the Procellaria capensis = P. cequinoctialis (?), which seems to have been known 

 prior to the P. glacialis Linn. (Translator.) 



