brooks: FAI.KLAXn ISI.AXn BIRDS. 145 



their power to lunge forward makes the gathering of eggs a task 

 requiring proper implements. 



The eggs are sometimes gathered for food hut they are strong and 

 undesirable. A professional gatherer of eggs assured me that on his 

 first visit to a colony he always found a few runt-eggs, but that after 

 destroying these all subsequent laying was normal. It seems odd 

 that a bird should produce runt-eggs on its first laying. 



On the night of December 2, the little steamer spent the night in 

 Fox Bay, on West Falkland. It was beautiful clear weather, and all 

 night one could hear the doleful braying of these birds from a large 

 colony on a tussock island in the centre of the bay. 



Quite a number of Jackass Penguins were wont to frequent the beach 

 at the Gen too colony at Port Stephens; about a hundred on Decem- 

 ber 5, increasing to some four hundred by the middle of January, half 

 of which by this time were immature birds. They no doubt came 

 from Bird Island lying al)Out fixe miles offshore. 



On the beach they were very wild, but in the water they became 

 entirely changed, great bands of them swimming close to the beach 

 and following me as I walked along the water's edge. There they 

 would swim right where the waves were breaking being churned about, 

 but never being injured, and seeming to enjoy it. 



The heaviest specimen taken was an immature bird weighing 12f 

 pounds; the adults weighed between 9f and 10| pounds. 



^SIacronectes giganteus solanderi Mathews. 

 Giant Petrel. 



I was unable to travel far enough west to find this species breeding. 



On December 7 at Port Stephens a flock of twenty or more (one 

 ver\- light colored) were going through a strange performance about 

 two hundred yards offshore. With the exception of four or five at 

 one side they were in a mass, half with their huge wings spread over 

 the water, heads extended far forward, and tails erect and fanned out. 

 They were constantly fighting in a clumsy manner with wings and 

 bills. Every few minutes one would leave the group and, after flying 

 about a while would return, and, assuming the above posture be 

 assailed by the rest returning the blows witii great energy. 



On January 11, a bird killed on the water was torn to pieces by 

 another of its kind before it reached the shore to be retrieved. 



