238 ORNITHOLOGY Of THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



instances where two were found, probably laid by as many females. The birds had to 

 be pushed off' the nests ere the eggs could be taken, for very few flew away of their own 

 accord. They showed no fight when evicted, and usually sat down a yard or two away ; 

 nor did they shoot oil from their nostrils, but they vomited the contents of their 

 stomachs, not as a mode of defence, but to get rid of ballast in order to take wing. 

 They resorted to the same lightening process when chased. Unfortunately, the weather 

 conditions and those of the ice did not permit of these rookeries being again visited, so 

 that the period of incubation could not be ascertained nor the capture of young be 

 effected. 



The average length of 80 eggs was 10 '38 cm. and the breadth 6 "5 7 cm. 



This species was observed on Saddle Island, and was thought to be breeding on the 

 adjacent rocks. 



The heavy toll ruthlessly demanded from the penguins was very manifest on visit- 

 ing their rookeries. Here abundant remains of recently killed young penguins, in the 

 shape of clean-picked skins and bones, were lying all around, while the gorged feathered 

 giants were either waddling about or sleeping off the effects of their orgies on the 

 neighbouring snow-slopes. They were observed to feed on dead seals, and during the 

 winter resorted to the ship's refuse -heap in search of scraps of meat. They were very 

 bold when in want of food, and one swooped down close to the cook and tore a piece 

 of flesh off a dead penguin. 



The proportion of birds in pure white plumage in the rookeries was not more, per- 

 haps less, than two per cent. The colour of the birds ranged from very dark brown 

 through all shades of chocolate, and from grey through light grey and mottled white to 

 white. Some of these facts indicate interbreeding between the two forms and, perhaps, 

 between their offspring and typically coloured birds and others. Dr Pirie thinks that 

 they interbreed, because he has no recollection of seeing two white birds together on 

 the nesting-grounds. 



Four specimens in the collection are from the South Orkneys, and two of these are 

 of the white form. The weight of these birds varied from 7 '25 to 10 Ibs. 



Daption capensis (Linn.). 



Daption capensis Cat. B., xxv. p. 428. 



Although the Cape Petrel or " Cape Pigeon " is one of the most familiar birds to 

 voyagers in the southern oceans, and one, too, that has been known since the days of 

 Dampier (that is to say, since the closing years of the seventeenth century), yet the eggs 

 remained entirely unknown until December 2nd, 1903, when Dr Pirie took the first 

 specimens at the South Orkneys. 



The three nests from which eggs were then obtained were placed on open exposed 

 ledges of cliffs on the west side of Uruguay Cove, Laurie Island, at heights of from 

 twenty to a hundred feet above sea-level. The nests were composed of a few small 



