4 
Mr. R. Hall on the 
the hill-side now appeared as if a hard brush had been passed 
over the place. If fishes are plentiful here, it is only a Cormo¬ 
rant that can catch them, for, in fact, the only fish 1 got I stole 
from a Cormorant. 
A very young bird, long before leaving the nest, I found 
to be troubled in the same way as the adult, by having 
worms in the stomach. 
Of the three stages that I noticed, the featherless young 
on December 31st, 1897, was jet-black, excepting the pink 
under the chin. The fledgeling, on January 6th, 1898, was 
black, with a tinge of grey on lower portions; forehead 
featherless; chin slate-blue; bill blue-black, with anterior 
portion horn-blue; feet brownish black, with a tinge of blue 
next the claws, which were blue, with tips black. Iris paler 
blue than in adult. In the young, when able to fly, on 
February 8tli, 1898, the plumage varied from dark brown to 
metallic blue; back of neck, chest, and abdominal parts 
showed white; legs and feet had a faint wash of brick-red over 
all ; bill dark bluish on lower mandible. The yellow 
caruncles had not yet appeared, but I noticed the yellow 
showing as the black feathers were moulted from the ventral 
surface. 
While fresh eggs were in a rookery (January 9th), young, 
several weeks old, were maturing in other nests of the same 
colony. Mr. Eaton collected fresh eggs in the middle of 
November, and I saw them in several rookeries between 
the 8th and 10th of January. On the 15tli of that month a 
large colony was about to leave its dwellings, and on 
February 16th the nests in a fair-sized rookery had just 
become tenantless, though the birds still stayed about the spot. 
Neither before nor after did I observe any white on the 
transalar fascia, although I saw hundreds of mature birds. 
Of the eggs, several showed such small measurements as— 
(a) 2*7 x 1*6 inch; (£) 2*05 x 1*55 inch; and an abnormal 
one had its diameter 1*2, axis 1*8 inch. 
Dafila eatoni (Sharpe); Salvad. Cat. B. xxvii. p. 278. 
Although this Duck is shy at times, it is also of an inquiring 
mind. On January 26th Mr. Gundersen and I had been 
