6 
Mr. R. Hall on the 
was on the top of a clump of Azorella, exposed to the Skuas, 
according to the account given by one of our young men. 
The nest is made to accommodate the number of eggs. If 
three eggs belong to it, the internal diameter is 5 inches; if 
four, the diameter within is 7 inches. In two cases, on 
February 2nd, at Betsy Cove, the clutch of hard-set eggs 
was only two. When the young are hatched they remain 
for some time on the high land, far from any water. The 
specimens that I obtained were preserved. 
Chionarchus minor (Hartlaub); Sharpe, Cat. B. xxiv. 
p. 711. 
I found the Sheathbill congregating in numbers, varying 
from half a dozen to 14, but I once saw an isolated pair. 
This shore-loving bird is a pest alike to Penguins and Cor¬ 
morants. One of my photographs shows an adult Penguin 
about to feed a young one nearly of its own size. Both are 
standing in company with a Sheathbill, and just as the young 
Penguin is bending forward to take a dainty morsel from 
the mouth of the parent, the Sheathbill jumps upon ]ts 
shoulders, both bend forward, and the longer neck secures 
the prize. The second case is rather more serious; for, 
having disturbed a pair of Gulls from their nest, I started 
to photograph the subject. In the meantime a pair of 
the Sheathbills came up and quietly pecked a hole in one 
egg; naturally the chick called out; the hole was then 
increased and the chick hauled forth, and piece by piece 
eaten in a few minutes. All this time the very shy Gulls 
were looking on. The same kind of apparent crime takes 
place with the Cormorants. One pair of Sheathbills always 
haunts u rookery, and, going quietly in and out among 
the Shags, they pick up what they can. Eggs they go 
straight for, and they seem grateful to a stranger who disturbs 
the colony, for then comes their special opportunity. I 
have seen the Sheathbills walking round a nest of feathered 
young Cormorants as if they expected to be allowed to take 
a bite from the wing of a young one, and they would have 
done so, if no defence had been made. While seated on a 
thoroughly uncomfortable rock, one of a pair approached me. 
