KUNGL. SV. VET. AKADEMIENS HANDLINGAR. BAND 40. NIO 5. 79 



The birds always alighted in the water near the carcasses and then swam for- 

 ward to them and climbed up on them. Ossifraga can walk on straight legs, and as 

 soon it is in a hurry, it spreads the wings. When resting, the whole tarsi touch 

 the ground. 



Sörling did not observe Ossifraga attacking the penguins or otber birds so it 

 must ha ve been rather »civilised» there, or had abundant food without molest- 

 ing others. 



»Grey» birds were most numerous, then the »black», and the »white» rather rare. 

 As a rule they kept themselves on the open sea and did not enter the fjords, except 

 in Cumberland Bay where the dead whales attracted them. 



The Giant Petrel of South Georgia appears to have learned that man is a very 

 dangerous being. Formerly it was not so. von den Steinen (12) reports that when 

 the German Expedition 1882 — 83 first arrived the Giant petrels were quite tame, 

 but in a few weeks- they became so shy that they took to the wings as soon as they 

 perceived »the head of a man above the top of a hill.» 



von den Steinen (12) saw the Giant Petrels begin to build their nests already 

 in September, and the 2d Nov. he found the first eggs. The same author describes 

 also the courting habits of these birds, and also how they defend their eggs. In the 

 middle of May the young birds have löst the last down. The 3d of May 1902 K. 

 A. Andersson (8) found that the majority of the youngs had assumed the first 

 (blackish) plumage, but some were still in down. 



On the South Orkney Islands the Giant Petrel builds a nest of small stones 

 about 2 feet in diameter (21), and according to the observations of the Scottish Ex- 

 pedition, the first eggs were laid the 4th of Nov., thus almost at the same time as 

 on South Georgia. On the South Orkney Islands the Giant Petrel is »a terrible 

 scourge» (21) to the Penguins, preying on their eggs and young, and the same is re- 

 ported by other expeditions to the Antarctis as well. 



In South Georgia the Giant Petrel remains winter and summer but further 

 south it is only a summer visitor. The Swedish Expedition 1901 — 1903 found it 

 breeding only on the Nelson Island and at the Gerlache Channel in the Graham 

 Land region. Bruce has reported it breeding on the South Orkney Islands and the 

 Scottish Expedition estimated the number on Laurie Island alone to about 5,000 in 

 the breeding season (21). On Marion and Kerguelen (13) Islands it breeds as well. 

 But to South Victoria Land (14) and Kaiser Wilhelm II Land (16) it comes only as 

 a visitor and is not known to breed there. Although it is circumpolar, it is rather 

 a subantarctic than a truly antarctic bird, even if it extends its wanderings in sum- 

 mer and autumn very far south. A considerable number breeds as well in the true 

 Antarctic as is already mentioned but, on the other hand, its breeding region reaches 

 comparatively too far north for an antarctic bird as it embraces as well the Falk- 

 lands as New Zealand. 



