144 BIRDS OF TIERRA DEL FUEGO 



an Auk, would be willing to believe that it was a member of the 

 family of Petrels; the greater number of which are eminently 

 pelagic in their habits, do not dive, and whose flight is usually 

 most graceful and continuous. I observed at Port Famine that 

 these birds, in the evening, sometimes flew in straight lines from 

 one part of the ground to another ; but during the day they 

 scarcely ever, I believe, take wing if undisturbed." 



"The habit and economy of the Diving Petrel," says Gould, 

 " are totally different from those of all the other members of the 

 family, with the exception^ of course, of the one or two other 

 species belonging to the same genus. It possesses none of those 

 great powers of flight common to the rest of the family, but has 

 this loss amply compensated for by its powers of diving, which 

 are so great that it is even said to fly under water. It thus gives 

 chase to shrimps and other small crustaceans, fry of fish, etc., 

 upon which it feeds ; and in turn finds a destroying enemy in the 

 barracoota, a ravenous fish, so-called by the colonists, and which 

 is very common in the seas off the southern parts of Australia. 

 Its flight is a curious fluttering motion, performed so close to the 

 surface that it rarel_y rises enough to top the waves, but upon 

 being met by them makes progress by a direct course through 

 instead of over them. I observed this, or a nearly allied species 

 about 20 degrees to the eastward of New Zealand, taking mollusks 

 from the surface of the ocean, now and then dashing under water, 

 rising again, skimming close to the surface, and then flying off in 

 a straight line with a quick fluttering motion of the wings." 



In the Falkland Islands Capt. Abbott found this Petrel 

 uncommon, the only place he saw it being Berkeley Sound. 



Family DIOMEDEIDJ^ 



DIOMEDEA EXULANS (Linn^us) 



The Man of War Bird, Albin, Nat. Hist. Birds, iii, p. 76, 1740. 

 Diomedea exulans, Linnceus, Systema Naturce,i, p. 214, 1766 j Gould, 



