80 E. LÖNNBERG. CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FAUNA OF SOUTH GEORGIA. 



Pagodroma nivea (Gmelin) 1788. 



Syn.: Procellaria nivea Gmelin 1788. 

 Daption niveum Stephens 1826. 

 Pagodroma nivea b. minor Bonaparte 1855. 



q 71 Antarctic Bay, the 28th of Jane 1905. »Iris light brown». 

 2, J 1 Cumberland Bay, the 12-th of .Tuly 1905. »Iris brown». 



Boiler Harboiir, Cumberland Bay, the 28tli of July 1905. »Iris brown». 

 J 1 (skeleton) Boiler Harboiir, Cumberland Bay the 25th of July 1905.' 

 ^ (skeleton) the same locality the 3d of Ang. 1905. 



The lengfch of wing in the two c?cf is resp. 262 and 267 mm. and the same 

 measurement in the two $$ resp. 248 and 249 mm. 



The length of the tail is in the former about 128 and 124, and in the latter 

 109 and 106 mm. 



The specimens are accordingly of small ($?), or medium size {<£<$) and there is 

 a quite conspicuous difference in size between the sexes in this ease, but this is only 

 a coincidence as Dr. Sharp e has foimd among the birds of the »Southern Cross» 

 Expedition (6) females of the same size as the largest males. 



Pagenstecher (7) found in the specimens of Pagodroma, which he examined, 

 the black hair-like feathers at the eye better developed in the female than in the 

 male specimens. This does not holcl good in the four specimens before me but rather 

 the contrary. 



In one of the females the feathers are not all of them quite snowy white, 

 The wings have a light shade of pearly grey which darkens somewhat towards the 

 tips of the quills, so that the tips of the first primaries are looking rather du sky. 

 This is effected by the rami of the web becoming more and more completely black. 

 The feathers of the back, the upper tail-coverts and especially the lesser wing-coverts 

 show very light, but nevertheless fully conspicuous, ash-coloured subterminal bands, 

 which give a delicate undulated appearance to the parts mentioned. It is possible 

 that this is an immature bird, but in any case, it is a very interesting skin, as it 

 gives a hint about the colour-pattern of the ancestors of Pagodroma. 



The black pigment on the rami of the primaries is present in all four speci- 

 mens although less conspicuous in three than in the fourth. It appears, just as 

 Pagenstecher (T) has described, in the shape of »mikroskopisch feine, schwarze 

 Längssfcrichelchen und Piinktchen.» If these marks should not be present in speci- 

 mens of Pagodroma from other localities there might be some reason to distinguish 

 the bird from South Georgia with the subspecific name »novegeorgica» as is proposed 

 by Pagenstecher. 



The German expedition 1882 — 83 found Pagodroma breeding in crevices of rocks 

 on the mountains near the sea. The birds were so tame that they could be caught 

 with the hand. W. Eagle Clarke (21) has described its nesting habits on the South 

 Orkney Islands. There the eggs are laid at the end of Nov. 



