KUNGL. SV. VET. AKADEMIENS HANDLINGAR. HAND 40. N:0. 5. 77 



the specimen referréd to, is not wider than that of the young of P. banksi^ taken in 

 the nest, and the lamellae of both has attained about the same degree of develop- 

 ment. The question t hen lies near at hand: is Prion desolatus only the immature 

 P. bank*!/ But I suppose it cannot be so, as breeding birds have been determined 

 as P. desolatus. The specimen I regard as P. desolatus makes the impression of being 

 an adult bird. The length of the wing is 194 mm., thus a little more than that of 

 fche male specimen of P. banksi, measured as above. The nail of the bill and the claws 

 are lighter than in my specimens of P. banksi. This might, however, be an indivi- 

 dual difference and the question about the identity, or not, must rcmain open. 



The Prion breeding on Kerguelen in very great numbers is regarded by Hall 

 (13) to be P. desolatus. Its habits are described to be similar to those of the South 

 Georgia bird. Hall found once »three birds to one egg in one hollow.» 



Prion banksi is subantarctic and does not enter the real ice-region. During 

 the winter it was not seen on land but already at the end of Sept. some sailors 

 told Sörling that théy had caught a few Prion in their burrows. 



The Scottish Expedition (21) observed Prion banksi off the South Orkney Is- 

 lands, but within the territorial watérs only once. 



Daption capensis (Linné) 1758. 



Syn.: Procellaria capensis Linné 1758. 



Daption » Stbphens 1826. 



<j\ 2 Boiler Harbonr, Cnmberland Bay, the lOth of May 1905. »J Iris black (brown)». »2 

 Lis brown.» 



(2 (skeleton) caught off the coast of Brazil -"/,„ 1901.) 

 AVing: ef 256 mm., 2 258 mm. 



Pagenstecher's observation that the male should be »erheblich stärker» does 

 not hold good. But both specimens are smaller than the average measurement of 

 the wing recorded by Salvin in Cat. Birds B. M. (Vol. XXV p. 429) viz. 10,5 i. 

 (= 266,5 mm.) 



To begin with, no specimens of Daption were seen in the inner part of Cnm- 

 berland Bay, but after a month they began to collect, allured by the dead whales, 

 wliich they attacked swimming round them, seldom sitting on the carcasses thein- 

 selves as Ossifraga did. They did not sit with straight tarses as gulls, but always 

 like Fulmarus with the whole tarsus resting on the ground, Avhether it was on ice 

 or anything else. On a high snowdrift near the water the Daptions were often seen 

 sitting and resting, but that was on a selected spöt and seldom they alighted on 

 other places. They rested, however, more often on the water with the bill under the 

 wing-coverts. In the summer they were heard crying and chattering day and night, 

 feeding and fighting each other. As soon as they were satisfied they swam away 

 and begun to clean and preen themselves and to bath. With half-opened wings 

 they easily dived down after such refuse from the establishment that had sunk in 



