Correspondence



45



vociferously ” ; and their heavy flight as compared ■with the allied

Caracaras was shown in the last lines.


Let us turn to observations of two people at very different periods

and see whether they support the above conclusions of mine. I think

they do. Darwin ( Royal Natural History) wrote : “ They live on the

flesh, of dead animals and marine productions, and on the Ramirex

rocks their whole sustenance must depend on the sea. They are

extraordinarily tame and fearless ” (italics mine—supports their character

as formed by me, F.D.W.) “ and haunt the neighbourhood of houses

for offal ” (evidently with little fear of man, here agreeing again with

the Zoological Gardens’ birds which showed no fear at all.—F.D.W.).

They are also stated to be “ quarrelsome and very passionate, tearing

up the grass with their bills from rage ” (agrees with quarrelsome

nature of two in Gardens versus Tawny Eagle and Crowned Hawk,

Eagle referred to by me.—F.D.W.). “ They are noisy uttering several

harsh cries ” (agrees with shrieking wildly, etc.—F.D.W.). “ They


build on rocky cliffs of the seacoast, but only on the small adjoining

islets, not on the two main islands ; this is a singular precaution in so

tame and fearless a bird.” And as supporting my remarks about flight

he says “ Their flight is heavy and clumsy ”.


Other remarks as to character, although not directly concerned

with the two birds formerly in the Gardens, are of interest to add ; and

Darwin states : “ If a hunting party kills an animal a number soon

collect, standing on the ground on all sides. They readily attack

wounded birds ; a Cormorant in this state having been taken to the

shore was immediately seized on by several, and its death hastened by

their blows.” Occasionally these birds wait at the mouth of a hole

made by a rodent-mammal and seize it when it comes out.


Leaving Darwin’s remarks, and coming to present times, there is a

letter in the Field, p. 506, 15th October, 1921, about the birds of Isla

Hermite, near Cape Horn. The writer is referring to Penguins

(although no species is given, they seem to me to be the Rock Hopper,

Eudyptes chrysocome, with crest mostly of black, and yellow along its

crest’s sides.—F.D.W.), and states that during their moult of three

weeks when they huddle away in rocky crevices, many die during the

period, “ some from exhaustion, but others fall an easy prey to the



