BIRDS OF NEW ZEALAND NOT FIGURED BY BULLER. 
by the “ Scotia ” Expedition, but I am not aware that any eggs have been 
obtained. In South Georgia it is represented by a local race which has been 
described by Reichenow as S. vittata georgice. This form also inhabits the 
South Orkneys, while the subarctic islands of New Zealand are the home of 
8. vittata bethunei. 
Eggs. I have only been able to examine one egg from St. Paul’s Rocks, 
taken by Macgillivray and now in the British Museum. This egg measures 
45.7 by 31.4 mm. and apparently constitutes the full clutch. It is figured in 
the Cat. Eggs of the Brit. Mus., I., pi. xiii., fig. 2, and is elongated-oval in shape, 
ground-colour darkish brown-olive with underlying blotches of dark ashy- 
grey and superficial blotches and streaks of dark sepia-brown, almost black, 
chiefly at the bigger end. 
V°n Pelzeln (op. cit., Taf. VI., fig. 14) also gives rather a crude figure of 
an egg from St. Paul’s. 
Of 8. vittata georgice the British Museum collection has a series of four 
eggs taken by L. H. Matthews at the Bay of Isles, South Georgia, in 1925. 
All these eggs have a greenisli-olive ground and show a zone of irregular 
blackish blotches round the larger end as well as numerous ashy shell marks. 
They measure 42.4 by 30.6 mm. ; 46.G by 31.1 ; 43.5 by 30; 43.1 by 29.5. 
Average: 43.9 by 30.3 mm. Here the eggs are laid among the stones and 
rocks in a scratching in the gravel near the coast. 
Breeding-season. Von Pelzeln gives November as the breeding at St. 
Paul s Rocks and Matthews took eggs of S. v. georgice on December 30th, but 
some of these were considerably incubated at that date. 
The following notes are applicable only to the bird of the Falldands— 
except where otherwise stated. 
CATHARACTA ANTARCTICA. 
(Ante, p. 116 and pi. 59.) 
Nest. Usually a mere hollow in the moss or on the ground, with fragments 
of moss, lichens or weeds from the vicinity as lining. 
The birds generally breed some distance apart from one another, but 
often in the immediate neighbourhood of a Penguin Rookery, which serves 
them as a store-house of prospective food. Like all the Skuas of this genus, 
they are bold and savage birds, showing great courage hi the defence of tlieir 
nests. Fighting between the males of a severe character takes place hi the 
pairing season, and on the South Orkneys a couple of males have been seen 
hard at it with bill and claw for nearly an hour. The vanquished bird was 
then quite exhausted and was torn to pieces and devoured by a Giant Petrel. 
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