262 DR. CUNNINGHAM ON MICROPTERTJS CINERKUS. [Mar. 21, 



dozen to forty or fifty individuals. Their long, slender, curved bills 

 are used much in probing, as the larvae of the large-horned beetle 

 are often found in large quantities in their stomachs. Often they 

 are so intent on seeking their food that the members of a flock will 

 all separate and wander out of sight of each other ; occasionally at 

 such times they utter loud vehement cries, as if to call their com- 

 panions, or to inform each other of their whereabouts. Frequently 

 one will suddenly lift up his wings as if to fly, and, stretching them 

 up vertically, remain fifteen or twenty seconds in this curious atti- 

 tude. At sunset they all rise up clamouring, and direct their flight 

 to the nearest watercourse, and often on their way to the evening 

 rendezvous go through a strange and interesting process. The whole 

 flock suddenly precipitates itself downward through the air with a 

 violence wonderful to see, every bird wheeling this way and that, as 

 if striving to outvie his fellows in every wild fantastic motion of 

 which they are capable. In this manner they reascend and descend 

 again and again, scattering or closing together as if pursuing and 

 then striving to avoid each other. This exercise they keep up for 

 some time, and while it continues make the air for miles resound 

 with their loud percussive screams. On the arrival of spring the 

 Vandurias take their departure : their swift and easy flight might in 

 a very sho-t space of time convey them to the extreme southern 

 point of this continent ; but I should think, judging from their habits 

 here and what I know of the physical condition of Patagonia, that 

 the northern portion of that country would be their most congenial 

 summer home. 



" Thus but fifteen Patagonian species visit us : there may be a 

 few more, probably the Tringa Lonapartii and perhaps a species of 

 Tcenioptera ; but some that I have placed on the list (the Veca- 

 sina, for example) may prove to be residents of the Buenos Ayrean 

 pampas. 



" Some of our resident species appear in districts in winter where 

 they are never seen in summer. The migrations of these birds are 

 never very regular ; the most common are the Boyero (Teenioptera 

 coronata), the Burrowing Parrot, the large Wild Pigeon, and the 

 Greater Red-breasted Lark." 



Dr. Cunningham read a memoir on some points in the anatomy 

 of the Steamer Duck (Mirropterus cinereus), founded on specimens 

 of this bird in various stages obtained by him during the recent 

 survey of the Magellan Straits. The conclusion arrived at by Dr. 

 Cunningham, after careful study of these examples, was that the 

 so-called Micropterus patachonicus was only the young of M . cine- 

 reus- — the peculiarity being that the power of flight departed from 

 this bird as it grew adult. 



This paper will be published in the Society's ' Transactions.' 



The following papers were read 



