Birds of Kerguelen Island . 3 
ensued. Only when actually pushed off the cliff-side did the 
birds take wing. 
In the rookery the pairs belonging to each nest show 
mutual and constant attention, one standing and the mate 
sitting, while both fondle with the bill and occasionally 
preen each other's feathers. When a Great Skua Gull flies 
above a rookery in search of something to eat, there is a 
rising of necks and a low chorus of calls. The Skua knows 
the danger in a bite from the strong beak, and keeps out of 
reach, while it struts among the nests to find an egg exposed. 
At a fatal moment the Skua observes the Cormorant leave 
its nest, and at that instant is down and carries off a 
fresh egg, which is quickly cracked and swallowed whole. 
The Skua has the audacity to stay in the rookery, w r here 
the loss of an egg does not appear to cause any special com¬ 
motion among the other birds. On that side of the rookery 
on which a Skua stands all birds are a faces front," and 
according as the position changes all the white portions 
of the plumage of the Cormorants are towards you, then all 
blacks, or, again, a blend of blacks and whites. The largest 
rookery observed contained about 180 birds, sitting or stand¬ 
ing, and, with the exception of some eight immature examples, 
they appeared to be in the dress of maturity. The young 
birds were without the orange caruncles. The nests, 45 to 50 
in number, each contained two or three eggs, rarely four. 
When I disturbed one bird from its nest, another would come 
and steal the lining. In passing through the closely-packed 
rookery the birds objected to being pushed from their nests, 
but offered no resistance beyond that of their own weight. A 
typical nest measured 13 inches extreme diameter, 8 inches 
across internally, with a depth of 3 inches ; the lining was 
of marine weeds. From this rookery, for food and natural- 
history purposes, we carried away some 75 eggs, leaving a 
few clutches only (January 1st). On th'? 3rd of February I 
again visited the same rookery, and observed that the few 
remaining eggs had been hatched, while the young were now 
rapidly developing. All the soft portions of the other nests 
had been entirely taken away by the birds, and this part of 
b 2 
