THEIR DISTRIBUTION AND FOOD. 97 



special notice here, a small blue petrel^ closely 

 resembling P. coerulea, from wbich it may readily 

 be disting-uished by wanting the white tips to the 

 central tail feathers. It turns out to be the P. 

 desolata, known only by a drawing in the British 

 Museum made more than half a century ago, from 

 which this species was characterised. When in 

 lat. 50° 46' S. and long. 97° 47' W. I saw P. 

 antarctica for the first time ; one or two individuals 

 were in daily attendance while rounding Cape Horn 

 and followed ihe ship until we sighted the Falkland 

 Islands. I had long been looking- out for P. 

 glacialoides, which in due time made its appearance 

 — a beautiful light grey petrel, larger than a pigeon ; 

 it continued with us between the latitudes of 40° 

 and 58° S. and occasionally pecked at a baited 

 hook towing astern. 



One may naturally wonder what these petrels 

 can procure for food in the ocean to the southward 

 of 35° south latitude, where they are perhaps more 

 numerous than elsewhere, and where the voyager 

 never sees any surface-swimming fishes which they 

 might pick up ? It is, of course, well known that 

 they eagerly pounce upon any scraps of animal 

 matter in the wake of a vessel, hence it is reasonable 

 to suppose that they follow ships for the purpose of 

 picking up the offal, but they may also be seen 

 similarly following in the wake of whales and droves 

 of the larger porpoises. Almost invariably I have 

 found in the stomach of the many kinds of alba- 



VOL. II. H 



