t'ULICA LEUCOPTERA 115 



Inland, starved to death apparently, through the freezing of their 

 waters. None I have handled would have weighed over 

 twelve or fourteen pounds. 



Of the Steamer Duck breeding inland I have no knowledge. 

 On January 10th, I took a nest containing five eggs on the 

 southern shore of Useless Bay. It was built entirely of grey 

 down, in the kelp, only a few feet above high tide mark on 

 the outskirts of a breeding colony of Sterna hirundinacea. I ate 

 one of the eggs, which was excellent. The three I have 

 preserved differ in no respect from the average examples in 

 the British Museum. They are of broad oval shape, a little 

 larger in diameter at the large end ; of pale cream colour, 

 smooth and glossy ; measuring respectively 3*2 by 2 "3, 3' 3 by 

 2-3, and 3*2 by 2*2 inches. 



EALLI 



Family RALLID^ 



PULICA LEUCOPTERA (Vieillot) 



Poclia, Azara, Pcixaros, Paraguay y La Plata, iii, p. 472, 1805. 



Pulica leUCOptera, Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. d'Eist. Nat., xii, p. 48, 1817 ; 

 Burnford, Ibis, p. 195, 1877; Sclater and Hudson, Argentine Orn., ii, 

 p. 158, 1889; Oustalet, Miss. Sci. Gap Horn, Ois., p. 134, 1891; Sharpe, 

 Gat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxiii, p. 224, 1894. 



Hahitat. — Southern Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru, to Tierra del Fuego. 



? , Useless Bay Settlement, 29tli Jan., 1905. 



Iris — majenta ; bill — greenish yellow, nostril orange ; legs and feet — olive- 

 green. 



The Yellow-billed Coot is common at the head of Useless 

 Bay in the deeper fresh-water lagoons and pools where there 

 is floating weed, and where it is not easily got at owing to the 

 treacherous nature of the ground. 



