A ves.} 



SUBANTARCTIC ISLANDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 



557 



responsible for the destruction of other birds on the islands. We found it to be 

 common at the Snares, Aucklands, and Campbell Islands, while I had good oppor- 

 tunity of examining it at Antipodes Island during the breeding season. 



Everywhere on the higher lands the ground was strewn with skeletons of petrels. 

 Some bones were bleached by long exposure, others were recently picked, while 

 several were found from which the feathers had not yet been stripped. All of these 

 were without doubt the work of skua gulls, many of which we surprised at their 

 meals. 



Fig. 7. — Feathees of Petrel PLUCKEn bt a Skua Gull, Disappointment Island, Auckland Islands. 



The entrances to many of the burrows of the petrels were enlarged, and it seems 

 probable that the skuas actually enter the holes and drag the birds out. Mr. F. R. 

 Chapman got one out of a burrow on Antipodes Island in 1891. These parasites 

 are ever on the watch : they chase other birds for the sake of their dinners, which 

 the unfortunate victims disgorge ; they hover among the penguins on the chance of 

 picking up a young or disabled bird, and they dance close attendance on the sitting 

 albatroses. If one of these birds leaves its egg for but a dozen yards the skuas 

 pounce upon it. Such a case happened while two of our party held an albatros 

 for the purpose of photographing its nest ; its egg was pierced by an impudent 

 marauder in a moment. We also discovered two albatroses sitting "upon eggs 



