OCEANITES OCEANICUS. 



The habits have been well described by Dr. Wilson, who states that the flight 

 is peculiarly attractive in the barren wastes of snow and rock, chiefly, perhaps, from 

 its resemblance to that of the familiar Martin, for it flits here and there, exactly 

 as though in search of insects on the wing. Occasionally it sails on outstretched 

 wings. The power of flight, he says, must be very remarkable, for it seems to spend 

 its life on the wing. 



The practice of hovering, in which this Petrel sometimes indulges, was first noticed 

 by Dr. McCormick, who saw it sailing above the mast-head of the " Erebus " when in 

 the Pack Ice, during the first Antarctic Expedition. The late Nikolai Hanson, the 

 zoologist to the " Southern Cross," also says that on the 8th March he saw a bird 

 performing evolutions in the air, at a height of about 200-300 metres, like a Swift. 

 He often observed these birds, both when on board the "Southern Cross" and after the 

 landing at Cape Ad are, flying round the ship and the house, in the evenings after dark, 

 like Bats, which they very much resembled in their flight (Rep. Voy. " Southern Cross" 

 p. 94). 



The food, according to Dr. Wilson, consists of minute crustaceans, picked up from 

 the surface of the water while on the wing. Flitting about from wave to wave, the 

 little Petrel delicately treads the water, to steady itself a moment, while it picks up 

 a tiny morsel (Wilson, I. c). 



There seems to be considerable variation in the mode of nesting. The Rev. A. E. 

 Eaton, who was the first to discover authentic eggs, found the bird on Kerguelen 

 Island inhabiting the slopes of shattered rocks with suitable chinks and crevices, or 

 dry spaces under stones or large boulders, sheltered from draughts, whether they were 

 near the Sound, or on the sides and summits of high hills. The egg was laid upon the 

 bare ground within the recess selected, either in a chance depression formed by the 

 contiguous stones, or in a shallow circular hollow excavated in the earth by the 

 parent (Phil. Trans., Vol. CLXVIII., p. 133). 



The naturalists of the " Scotia," who procured eggs on the South Orkney Islands 

 during the Scottish Antarctic Expedition, found that there was no attempt at nest- 

 making, and the egg was very difficult to obtain, being laid in a hollow in the earth 

 in narrow clefts and fissures in the face of the cliffs or under boulders, and sometimes 

 stones on the screes sloping from the foot of the precipice, at heights varying from 

 20 to 300 ft. above sea level. 



At Cape Adare, in South Victoria Land, Dr. Wilson perceived some of these Storm- 

 Petrels hovering round the mouth of crevices in the rocky side of the cliff, often settling 

 close by for a few seconds and then sailing in short circles round it, reminding him 

 strongly of the movements of a House-Martin at its nest under the eaves of a country 

 barn. He adds the following interesting note : — " Two of these crevices could not be 

 reached, but soon we saw a bird hover round and settle upon a large boulder. Hunting 

 about for a burrow underneath, we caught the sound of twittering, and traced it to a 



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