SMALL-BILLED SNOWY PETREL. 
chasing it; not for its life, for the chase is over when the contents of the 
Petrel’s stomach have been surrendered. Apart from the Skua I believe 
it has no enemies. The Snow Petrel is a migrant within the limits of the 
ice-covered area, going northward with the sun in the autumn to frequent the 
northern limits of the ice belt, where it can obtain food in the open leads of 
water. 
We had it with us during the whole of our journey northward along 
the South Victoria Land coast, and off the Balleny Islands on March 2nd, 
when it appeared in flocks of a score or more together. All were uniform in 
size and of the larger type ; not one of the smaller type was seen, but as they 
seemed to be in flocks and on the move, one could not consider this to be 
characteristic of the locality. Most of the birds that we saw after the 
middle of February in 1904 were moulting, and a shortage of primaries could 
be seen in the wings ; but in 1902 we obtained moulting birds on January 11th, 
so that the moult evidently begins quite early in that month. 
The flight of this bird is exceedingly beautiful and dainty, and from 
the whiteness of its plumage it is very easily lost to sight on the snow- 
covered pack or ice-floe, appearing now for a second and now as suddenly 
disappearing, and there is something almost ghostly in the silent flight and 
sudden appearance and disappearance of this bud. Quite often one’s 
attention is drawn to it by the flitting of its shadow on the snowy ground 
rather than by the bird itself. Though the flight is so beautiful, not only 
is its croaking guttural voice discordant, but its gait upon the snow is 
equally unbecoming. The legs are set widely apart, and the broad webbed 
feet are turned inwards, giving it precisely the same ungainly straddle-legged 
appearance that is familiar in the less elegant Ossifraga gigantea. 
It is true that the feathering of the bird is white, but there is in the 
quills, particularly of the wings and tail, and in the basal parts of nearly all 
the feathers, quite a strong tinge of lemon-yellow, which no doubt results 
from the ingestion of so much of the bright orange-yellow pigment that 
characterises the crustaceans which form its staple diet. This pigment not 
only tinges the feathers, but colours the fat. The eyes, although apparently 
jet-black at a short distance, are found when examined closely to have a 
very dark brown iris. 
This bird was added to the Australian List by Mr. A. J. Campbell in the 
Emu, Vol. XXIV., p. 77, July 4th, 1924. 
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