ON THE BIRDS OF TJIE WEDDELL AND ADJACENT SEAS. 257 



soon froze up. For several days there was no change, and the lateness of the season, 

 and the possibility of not being liberated, made it imperative that preparations should 

 be made for wintering. On the 13th, however, under the influence of a south-west 

 wind, the pack began to break up and the ship was once more afloat. Off this newly 

 discovered land Emperor Penguins were abundant, and twenty were captured ; while 

 Adelie Penguins, Giant Petrels, McCormick's Skuas, Arctic Terns (Sterna macnira), 

 and Snowy and Silver Petrels were swarming all around. The birds previously observed 

 during the voyage, in addition to the species named, were Cape Petrels, Wilson's 

 Petrels, Blue Petrels (Haloljsena cserulea), Mutton's Sooty Albatroses, and Bauks's 

 Whale-birds, the last-mentioned being only observed north of the Antarctic Circle. 



The Antarctic summer was now fast drawing to a close, and the Scotia having 

 narrowly escaped the miseries of wintering in the pack, turned her prow towards the 

 north on the 17th of March, her immediate goal being the remote Gough Island in the 

 middle waters of the South Atlantic Ocean. In the run northwards to the Antarctic 

 Circle, the birds logged were Emperor and Ade"lie Penguins, Antarctic, Silver, Snowy, 

 Cape, Blue, and Wilson's Petrels, Button's Sooty Albatroses, Arctic Terns, and a new 

 petrel to the fauna of the South Polar Ocean, namely (Estrelata brevirostris. The 

 species noted between the Circle and 60 S. lat., which was crossed in about 12 W. 

 long., and between March 27th and April 2nd, included most of the species named, 

 the absentees being the two penguins, the Snowy and Antarctic Petrels, and the 

 Arctic Tern. On the other hand, an additional petrel, from the description probably 

 M'ljaqueus asquinoctialis, was encountered. 



It may be interesting here to notice that the Expedition added no less than four 

 birds namely, Sterna macrura, Phabetria comicoides, Halobiena cxrulea, and 

 (Estrelata brevirostris to the short list of nine species previously known, according 

 to Mr Howard Saunders in the Antarctic Manual, to have occurred south of the 

 Antarctic Circle. 



A specially important ornithological feature of these voyages of the Scotia was the 

 presence in the Polar Sea of a number of species of petrels far beyond the southern 

 limits of their breeding-areas. This seems to indicate that at the close of the southern 

 summer numbers of Hutton's Sooty Albatroses (P. comicoides), Cape Petrels(Z>. capensis), 

 Giant Petrels (O. gigantea), Antarctic Petrels (T. antarctica), Silver Petrels (P. glacia- 

 loides), Blue Petrels (//. cserulea), and (Estrelata brevirostris cross the Antarctic 

 Circle and sojourn among the polar ice ere they retreat northwards to pass the winter 

 in more genial oceanic resorts. It is possible, however, that some of these visitors to 

 the far south are non-breeding birds, and, if so, they may have spent the entire summer 

 there. The Tubinares are, as is well known, great wanderers, but these very remark- 

 able southern incursions are, perhaps, to be explained by the extraordinary abundance 

 of food to be found in the waters of the far south in the summer and autumn, which 

 allures some of the birds further and further towards the Pole, until the great ice- 

 barrier, which almost girdles the Antarctic Continent, arrests their further progress, 



