168 Notes on Natural History [March, 



They are remarkably fat and plump , thickly clothed with feathers, 

 under which is a close beautifully soft down of a dark greyish-brown 

 colour. 



The Cape petrels appear to be stupid unwary birds, easily caught 

 by throwing a line out astern, and allowing them to entan gle their 

 wings in crossing and recrossing the wake of the ship ; or, perhaps 

 this may be attributed less to stupidity than to their great greediness, 

 making them more intent on securing any morsel thrown overboard, 

 than on avoiding the snares which are laid for them. 



They are also taken with small hooks, and even crooked pins, bait- 

 ed with a little piece of fat, which they greedily swallow, fighting and 

 screaming over the savoury morsel, until a sudden jerk of the line, 

 hooks some unfortunate gourmand, and proves even to the poor petrel 

 the truth of the saying, " there is death in the pot !" 



"When brought on board they both bite and scratch very sharply, and 

 often successfully defend themselves by squirting over the assailant 

 an oily liquid of a deep orange colour, smelling so rank and offensive, 

 as to render the clothes so bespattered scarcely bearable for many days 

 afterwards, and it is indeed very difficult to get rid of it from the hands 

 even after repeated ablutions. Along with this nauseous fluid, many 

 of them restored the pieces of pork with which we had so treacherously 

 supplied them. 



The natural food of these birds consists most probably of molluscous 

 animals and medusse, particulai'ly those which shine with a phosphoric 

 light in the night time, and which light, if the petrels are nocturnal 

 birds, as Professor Rennie says they are*, may be the means of guid- 

 ing them to their prey ; I am, however, rather inclined to doubt their 

 being nocturnal, for reasons which will presently appear. 



In examining the substance disgorged by some of these birds, I 

 found a number of the interior cartilaginous membranes of the " vi- 

 lella scaphidia," qauntities of which had been seen a few days before, 

 of a beautiful blue colour, floating on the surface of the glassy sea. 



Their numbers varied considerably on different days, sometimes 

 following us in large flocks, and coming close to the ship's stern, 

 while at other times there were only two or three to be seen. 



I was much astonished at the coolness with which they would sit 

 on the swelling waves and even allow the spray to dash right over 

 them without rising, and seemingly with perfect indifference, conti- 

 nuing their squabbles for the baited hook, and diving very prettily 

 should the object sink before they could pick it up. They alight upon 



* "Architecture of Birds," p. 30. 



