BIRDS. 233 
a Saddle-backed Crow. It is a very localised and terrestrial Gull, 
feeding largely on the eggs and young of other species, molluscs, ete. ; 
and ranging to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia Island and Pata- 
gonia, on the east side, and through the Straits of Magellan, up to the 
Island of Chiloe, in the Pacific. 
There is ample evidence that TERNS are found in large numbers 
in the South Polar regions, and even within the Antarctic circle, 
for Bellingshausen, of the Russian ship Mostok, has recorded Terns, 
on 18th February 1820, in 68° S., while McCormick saw one in 
76° 52'S. and 178° W., and he had previously observed ‘flocks’ on 
the ice between 65°-66° 8. and in about 158° W. On the third 
attempt of the Hrebus, McCormick noticed Terns breeding on Cock- 
burn Island; Webster found birds of this family in the South 
Shetlands; and the Dundee whalers brought back specimens from 
that neighbourhood, which are referable to a well-known South 
American species, Sterna hirundinacea, akin to our own Common 
Tern, though quite distinct. This distribution might be expected, 
and it may be reasonably assumed that all the Terns found to the 
southward of America are of this species. But the species found 
off Victoria Land has still to be identified, and all that can be said 
is that, inasmuch as the Southern Cross expedition obtained at 
Campbell Island an adult of Sterna vittata, there is a probability 
that this species may go as far as Victoria Land. This latter, the 
‘Wreathed Tern’ of Latham, breeds in the volcanic islands of St. 
Paul and Amsterdam, and occurs at Christmas Harbour, in the north 
of Kerguelen; but the characteristic Tern of the last-named island, 
as well as of the Crozets, and probably of Heard Island, is a more 
sooty-coloured species, S. virgata. Further details would be tech- 
nical and tedious, but enough has been said to show the importance 
of securing specimens of this family on the Antarctic Expedition 
from as many localities as possible, in order that they may be 
identified by experts. 
Almost the last species which call for notice are the Sheathbills 
(Chionidide), belonging to the order Limicole. They are white birds 
about the size of pigeons, and are generally so called by the sealers. 
The Lesser Sheathbill (Chionarchus minor) inhabits Kerguelen and 
Heard Islands, and also Marion and Prince Edward Islands; while 
on the Crozets, which are, roughly, halfway between Kerguelen and 
the Prince Edward group, there is a slightly smaller form, which 
Dr. Bowdler Sharpe considers specifically distinct. I do not know 
if any kind of Sheathbill is found on the South Sandwich or the 
South Orkney Islands ; but on South Georgia Island, the Falklands, 
