The "break-bones" is, however, a
rapacious bird, for it was observed by some of the officers at Port
St. Antonio chasing a diver, which tried to escape by diving and
flying, but was continually struck down, and at last killed by a
blow on its head. At Port St. Julian these great petrels were seen
killing and devouring young gulls. A second species (Puffinus
cinereus), which is common to Europe, Cape Horn, and the coast of
Peru, is of a much smaller size than the P. gigantea, but, like it,
of a dirty black colour. It generally frequents the inland sounds
in very large flocks: I do not think I ever saw so many birds of
any other sort together, as I once saw of these behind the island
of Chiloe. Hundreds of thousands flew in an irregular line for
several hours in one direction. When part of the flock settled on
the water the surface was blackened, and a noise proceeded from
them as of human beings talking in the distance.
There are several other species of petrels, but I will only mention
one other kind, the Pelacanoides Berardi, which offers an example
of those extraordinary cases, of a bird evidently belonging to one
well-marked family, yet both in its habits and structure allied to
a very distinct tribe.
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