182 Mr. W. Eagle Clarke on the 



their wings measuring 1665 inches, as against 16 to 17 inches 

 in the last mentioned. The Falkland-Island bird has recently 

 been described by Lonnberg (Wiss. Ergebn. d. Schwed- 

 ischen Sudpolar-Exp. Bd. v. Lfg. 5, p. 8, 1905) as a sub- 

 species under the name of M. antarctica falklandica. 



It is of interest to remark that one of these light birds was 

 observed to be mated with one of the dark examples. 



Megalestris maccormicki (Saund.). 



Megalestris maccormicki Cat. B. xxv. p. 321. 



Mr. Mossman informs me that a specimen of McCormick's 

 Skua was procured by the Argentine naturalists at Laurie I. 

 on November 11th, 1904, and is in their collection of birds. 

 Mr. Mossman saw this bird in the flesh and examined it, and 

 he tells me that it -was quite different from the Skuas, light 

 or dark, which bred at the South Orkneys. This South- 

 Polar bird has not hitherto been obtained so far north as the 

 South Orkneys, indeed I believe not outside the Antarctic 

 Circle. 



Chionis alba (Gm.) . (Plates III. fig. 2, XII., & XIII. fig. 1 .) 



Chionis alba Cat. B. xxiv. p. 710. 



This Sheathbill, the "Paddy" of the explorers, was an 

 abundant species, and though chiefly a summer visitor to the 

 islands, yet wintered in small numbers at Scotia Bay, being 

 attracted by the refuse cast out from the ship. Some 

 wintered away from the ship at the seal-haunts on the north 

 side of the island. 



In the summer it was present in all the Penguin and Shag 

 rookeries, as many as two hundred haunting some of the 

 larger colonies (see Plate XII.). Altogether it is believed 

 that from 2000 to 3000 of these birds passed the Antarctic 

 summer of 1903 on Laurie I. alone. Adults and young 

 birds were present in considerable numbers at Saddle I. on 

 the occasion of the Expedition's visit early in the previous 

 autumn, namely on February 4th, 1903. 



It was also fairly abundant around Scotia Bay in March, 

 but towards the end of April, when the temperature 

 approached zero, the numbers fell off considerably, and when 



