Aves. 141 



of March he makes the interesting note respecting Wilson's Petrel 

 flying round the house like a Swift, as he had observed it doing round 

 the ship on the voyage out {vide siipra, p. 94). 



As will hQ seen by the list of specimens, the species was observed 

 l)y Mr. Evans near Cape Adare on the loth of December, 1899, and 

 half a dozen were preserved. 



Mr. Borchgrevink likewise records the curious haliit of Wilson's 

 I'etrel " flying round the vessel several times, sometimes straight into 

 the rigging " (p. 54), as noticed by Mr. Hanson {supra, p. 94). He 

 writes (p. 218) : " The Oceanites oceanicns also hatched on Victoria 

 Land. I found their nests in the cracks of the rocks, under stones 

 and boulders. Although we secured eggs from them, we got no live 

 young ones ; but from the multitude of the dead young ones in their 

 old nests, I should say that very many perish every year. Like the 

 rest of the Petrels, they always spat out the yellow, evil-smelling oil 

 from their beaks when in danger. I caught several of them on their 

 nests, and found that they behaved very much like the Pagodroma 

 nivea, the elegant White Petrel, the life of which interested me even 

 more than that of the Penguins." It is to be regretted that no eggs 

 of Wilson's Petrel were brought home by the ' Southern Cross,' nor 

 have any of the " very valuable photos of these birds on their nests " 

 {cf. p. 231) been reproduced in Mr. Borchgrevink's liook, or been 

 submitted to me. 



Mr. Bernacchi (p. 315) says that the present species was found 

 nearly as far south as the Great Ice Barrier, and it bred high up on 

 the mountain sides of South Victoria Land. He adds : " The eggs 

 w^ere very large for the size of the bird, and, strange to say, as many 

 as five were found in the same nest. Mr. Evans, who had found the 

 e^gs of these birds on Kerguelen Island, assured us that this Petrel 

 never laid more than one egg, so how five eggs came to be in the 

 same nest is not very olivious, I may add, however, that the eggs 

 were not all fresh when found." 



FREGETTA, Bp. 



Ekegetta melanogaster. 



Thalassidroma melanogaster, Gould, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., XIIF., p. 367 



(1844, South Pacific and Indian Oceans) ; id. B. Austr., VII., pi, 62 (1847, 

 Cape Lagullas). 



Fregetta melanogaster, Gigl., Faun. Vert. Oceano, p. 38 (1870) ; Salvin, P. Z. S., 

 1878, p. 736 (Betsy Cove, Kerguelen) ; iSaunders, P. Z. S., 1880, p. 164 

 (lat. 36° 57' S., long. 40° 41' E.) ; BuUer, B. N. Zeal., 2nd ed., II., p. 249 



