MONOGRAPH OF THE PETRELS. 



21st, 1903. The first spring migrants appeared on October 1st, but they were not 

 numerous till after the 23rd of that month (Eagle Clarke, Ibis, 1906, p. 174). 



D. capensis was found nesting in the Gerlache Canal by the naturalists of the Swedish 

 Antarctic Expedition, who also observed it on Louis Philippe Land in August, and on 

 Paulet Island from October to April, as well as east of Graham Land, Lat. 64° 30' S., 

 Long. 50° 37' W., in January, and in the South Shetland Islands in November 

 (Anderson), South Georgia (in May), while Von der Steinen believes that it breeds there 

 during that month. Ross saw flocks of the young of this Fulmar in the Pack Ice off 

 Victoria Land, January 14th, 1841. No nests were found there by N. Hanson and 

 H. Evans, the naturalists of the " Southern Cross " Expedition, though many specimens 

 were obtained from December to February, and it is probable that the species breeds 

 there. The most southerly occurrence they noted was Lat. 65° S., Long. 161° E. 



The " Cape Pigeon " has occurred in Europe, and Mr. J. H. Gurney (Ibis, 1901, 

 p. 404) gives the following list of the specimens recorded : — One killed near Hyeres in 

 October, 1844, by M. Besson (teste Degland) ; two at Bercy, near Paris ; two in the 

 Department of Sarthe (Gentil) ; and one near Dunkerque in 1880 (Van Kempen). Mr. 

 Howard Saunders (Man. Brit. Birds, p. 750) enumerates three British examples: one from 

 near Dublin, on October 30th, 1881 (A. G. More, Ibis, 1882, p. 346) ; one from Bournemouth 

 (Rev. M. A. Mathew, Zool, 1894, p. 396) ; and a third from the Dovey, Wales, in 1879 

 (Salter, Zool., 1895, p. 254). Mr. Saunders doubted if any of these occurrences were due 

 to natural wanderings of the birds, and it must be remembered that Captain Hutton 

 relates (Ibis, 1867, p. 188) that he was informed by a sailor on board one of the 

 Australian mail steamers that he once took half-a-dozen Cape Pigeons alive (feeding 

 them on salt pork) as far as the English Channel, but having a difference with the 

 steward of the ship, who was part owner, he let them all fly away. 



D. capensis is conspicuous by reason of its mottled plumage ; in habits it is some- 

 what confiding, and individuals may be caught off ships by means of a landing-net ; 

 when liberated on deck they run with outstretched wings, and even at sea Professor 

 Giglioli says the bird cannot rise without first running along the surface of the water, 

 and thus gaining an impetus. Like other Petrels, these birds defend themselves by 

 ejecting the contents of their stomachs to a distance of six or eight feet with remarkable 

 precision. 



The Cape Pigeon, unlike most of its allies, utters a distinct cry, strong and raucous 

 — cac-cac, cac-cac, cac — increasing in rapidity, but during the period of courtship the birds 

 coo and cluck, and continue, Dr. Pirie says, their love-note, though to a less degree, 

 throughout the period of incubation. They make a great noise when attacking a dead 

 seal, the fat of which they are very fond. Mr. Robert Hall, who observed their habits 

 on Kerguelen Island, says that the nests are placed in holes in stony places in the cliffs, 

 about fifty feet above the sea-level, no lining of grass or weeds being used. He noticed a 

 pair of adult birds in a sheltered spot without eggs or young, and one bird was busily 



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