286 ORNITHOLOGY OF THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



also pulls birds [petrels] out of holes in the ground. This destructive species also 

 breeds at Tristan da Cunha. 



15. Prion vittatus (Gmelin). 



There is only one specimen in the collection, and this is seemingly a large example, 

 for the wing measures 87 inches. The lower plate of the mandible was pale blue, and 

 the remainder of the bill black. Tarsus and toes cobalt-blue, webs black. 



Great numbers of " Blue Petrels or Whale-birds " were also seen, and other specimens 

 which were shot were carried off by skuas ere they could be picked up from the water. 



This Prion has not a place in Verrill's list for Gough Island ; but as " Procellaria 

 vittata" it is included in the ornis of Tristan by Carmichael (t.c., p. 497), and Wyville 

 Thomson (t.c., p. 177) mentions it as a breeding species on Inaccessible Island. 



16. [Prion desolatus (Gmelin). 



Mr Comer obtained skins of this bird at Kerguelen, and remarks ( Verrill, t.c., p. 449) 

 that it is also found at Gough Island, but he does not appear to have brought back 

 specimens procured there. Salvin (Cat. B., xxv. p. 435) says that it is found between 

 35 and 60 S. ; but it has not, so far as I am aware, been recorded from Tristan da 

 Cunha.] 



17. Pelecanoides urinatrix (Gm.). 



The collection contains a single example which was captured from the Scotia while 

 her party of explorers was ashore on the 22nd of April 1904. According to a coloured 

 drawing, made at the time of capture, the tarsus and toes in life are cobalt-blue and 

 the webs and claws black. 



No Pelecanoides has hitherto been recorded, 1 believe, for any of the islands of the 

 Tristan group ; and if we follow Salvin and regard P. urinatrix and P. exsul as distinct, 

 then a very considerable extension eastwards of the range of this species is indicated 

 by its occurrence at Gough Island, for it does not appear to have been previously 

 obtained in the South Atlantic elsewhere than at the Falkland Islands. It is even 

 possible that it breeds at Gough Island, for Verrill (t.c., p. 449) mentions under this 

 species that there is an egg obtained there in Mr Comer's collection which is " supposed " 

 to be that of a " Diver." This egg measures 1'57 x T6 inch as against 1'54 x T26 and 

 1-52x1 '23 for eggs of Pelecanoides obtained by Mr Comer, together with skins, at 

 Kerguelen, and hence the P. exsul of Salvin (t.c., p. 438). 



18. Diomedea exulans Linn. 



Many albatroses of this species were observed around the Scotia as she lay off the 

 island from the 21st to 23rd of April, but no specimens were obtained. 



Mr Comer (Verrill, t.c., p. 437) says that this species is common at Gough Island 

 and breeds there. It commenced to lay at the end of December ; he obtained the first 



