138 
ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE. 
in its movements ; — sometimes they appeared in vast numbers, and on the next 
day not one was to be seen. At Port Famine, every morning and evening, a long 
band of these birds continued to fly with extreme rapidity, up and down the 
central parts of the channel, close to the surface of the water. Their flight was 
direct and vigorous, and they seldom glided with extended wings in graceful 
curves, like most other members of this family. Occasionally, they settled for a 
short time on the water ; and they thus remained at rest during nearly the whole 
of the middle of the day. When flying backwards and forwards, at a 
distance from the shore, they evidently were fishing : but it was rare to see them 
seize any prey. They are very wary, and seldom approach within gun-shot of a 
boat or of a ship; — a disposition strikingly different from that of most of the other 
species. The stomach of one, killed near Port Famine, was distended with seven 
prawn-like crabs, and a small fish. In another, killed off the Plata, there was 
the beak of a small cuttle-fish. I observed that these birds, when only slightly 
winged, were quite incapable of diving. There is no difference in the plumage of 
the sexes. The web between the inner toes, with the exception of the margin, is 
“ reddish-lilac-purple the rest being blackish. Legs and half of the lower man- 
dible blackish purple. From accounts which I have received, the individuals of 
this species, which live in the Northern Hemisphere, appear to have exactly 
the same habits as those above described. 
1. Pelecanoides Berardi. G. R. Gray. 
Puffinuria Berardi, Less. Tr. d’Orn. p. 614. 
Procellaria Berardi, Quoy et Gaim. Voy. depl. 31 
This bird is common in the deep and quiet creeks and inland seas of Tierra 
del Fuego, and on the west coast of Patagonia, as far north as the Chonos 
Archipelago. I never saw but one in the open sea, and that was between Tierra 
del Fuego and the Falkland Islands. This bird is a complete auk in its habits, 
although from its structure it must be classed with the Petrels. To the latter Mr. 
Gould informs me, its affinity is clearly shewn by the form of its beak and 
nostrils, length of foot, and even by the general colouring of its plumage. To the 
auks it is related in the general form of its body, its short wings, shape of tail, 
and absence of hind-toe to the foot. When seen from a distance and undisturbed, 
it would almost certainly be mistaken, from its manner of swimming and frequent 
diving, for a grebe. When approached in a boat, it generally dives to a distance, 
and on coming to the surface, with the same movement takes flight : having flown 
some way, it drops like a stone on the water, as if struck dead, and instan- 
taneously dives again. No one seeing this bird for the first time, thus diving 
