LIFE HISTORIES OP NORTH AMERICAN PETRELS AND PELICANS. 29 



The habit that this bird has, in common with most of the petrels, of d's- 

 gorglng semidigested food when disturbed ot annoyed is very commonly seen In 

 putting it to flight after feeding. It is interesting to notice how small an amount 

 of such ballast removed by vomiting seems to turn the scale, for it is quite in- 

 significant when compared with what the stomach actually contains; yet the 

 bird seems so utterly unable to run or to rise from the ice until relieved, that, 

 no matter how closely it is pressed. It will come to a dead stop in order to dis- 

 encumber itself by a number of voluntary efforts before making a serious effort 

 to rise. 



The giant petrel lives on any carrion that it is able to discover, and it can 

 never be at a loss during the Antarctic summer for a plentiful supply of dead 

 seals and penguins. I know not whether in the Macqnarie and Auckland Islands 

 and elsewhere it is also mainly a carrion feeder, but I can answer for this in 

 the Antarctic. One has but to kill a seal on the shore in summer and visit the 

 blubber refuse day by day to realize how quickly such food attracts the birds 

 who are looking for it. None but the carrion feeders come to it; one sees no 

 albatross, no snow, antarctic, or Wilson's petrel, though all must often scent it ; 

 but the giant petrel and the skuas come in constantly increasing numbers. 



Df. J. H. Kidder (1875) draws a realistic, though not an attractive, 

 picture of these gluttonous birds in the following words : 



I found the adult birds in considerable numbers feeding on the carcass of 

 the sea elephant, December 14. With their huge whitish beaks, lighter-colored 

 heads (then covered with clotted blooS), and disordered dun plumage, they re- 

 minded me strongly of vultures. Like vultures, also, they had so crammed 

 themselves that they were unable to rise from the ground, although it was 

 sufficiently rocky and irregular for them to do so with ease under ordinary 

 circumstances. They waddled and stumbled to the sea, swam away, and did 

 not rise into the air until half an hour or more of digestion, and perhaps of 

 vomiting, had made it possible. I shot two on this occasion ; but one succeeded 

 in getting into the water with a broken wing. The individual secured vomited 

 copiously, as soon as wounded, an immense mass of undigested blood, fat, and 

 intestines. 



BuUer (1888) says of a captive bird: 



Its capacity for swallowing was surprising, and it gorged its crop with fresh 

 meat until it could hold no more ; then it stretched its neck on the ground and 

 worked it violently in its efforts to accommodate another piece. Curiously 

 enough, it would not touch fish of any kind. Although, by way of experiment, 

 starved for several days, it still obstinately declined the fish offered it. When, 

 however, its mate died and had been skinned, the survivor regaled itself freely 

 on the carcass till it became decomposed. 



Behofoior. — BuUer (1888) gives the best account of the flight of 

 this f uhnar, which I quote in full : 



Their power of wing is something marvelous. For hours together they keep 

 up their rapid sailing movement without ever resting or descending to the 

 water for a moment. It is very interesting to watch them in this tireless flight 

 and to observe how completely they have their wings under control. .They 

 approach the steamer at a swift rate with a slow flapping movement of the 

 wings, and then make a wide circuit, keeping them perfectly rigid, but shifting 

 the balance of the body in such a way as to make alternately one wing and then 

 the other incline upwards or downwards, thus altering the plane without the 



