There are two varieties of skua gull: Megalestris McCormicki and M. antarctica. They are pirates and live by acts of piracy. All the seabirds have in one way or another to protect themselves from their depredations. The smaller birds live in narrow clefts or in burrows. The larger birds, which nest in the open, have to keep a continuous watch over nest and chick. The skua is brown coloured and has a strong, curved, hawk-like beak. Its habits and mode of life present a fascinating study, but space prevents a full description. Skuas make their nests on grassy slopes about the island, and resent any approach by strangers. Often when proceeding over the bluffs one is annoyed by these birds, which have a disconcerting habit of circling in the air, to descend with a swoop and a loud rush of air straight at one’s head, clearing it by only a few inches.
The Dominican Gull (Lartis dominicanus) is a fine-looking black-backed gull which nests in the tussock grass. It is found in large numbers about the whaling station.
The Tern (Sterna vittata) is a prettily-marked little bird which nests in the open, and is also found about the stations. It has a pretty, graceful flight, and hovers continually above the surface looking for scraps, in search of which it occasionally makes short dives.
The Blue-Eyed Shag (Phalacrocorax atriceps) is found in large numbers round the island. It is a most business-like bird, and goes steadily about its daily work, taking very little notice of outside interruptions. It is more prettily marked than the northern shag, having a black back and white belly. The back of the head is black, and carries a tuft of black feathers. The white of the belly is continued up over the under part of the neck and head. The eye is blue coloured. It lays two or three greenish-white eggs, and the young are covered with a dark-coloured down. Their food is fish, which they obtain by diving, and of which they consume an enormous number daily.
Paddies, or Sheathbills (Chionis alba), are not common on this island, though a few were seen about the coast by the naturalist.
South Georgian Teal (Nettion georgicum) are said to be getting very rare. A few were noticed and some specimens collected.
Falkland Island Geese—introduced by man—are also rare, and none were seen by the naturalist.[21] The whalers say that a few are still to be found about Cumberland Bay.
There are three species of penguin: Gentoo (Pygoscelis papua), King (Aptenodytes patagonica), and Rockhopper (Eudyptes Chrysolophus). The Gentoo is a brightly marked bird with black head and neck, black back and white belly, yellow legs, and a white patch over each eye that gives it a curiously inane expression. It is the most shy of the penguins, and easily takes fright if rapidly approached. By dropping on its breast and using both feet and flippers it can travel at considerable speed and can dodge cleverly. It nests in tussock grass. The King is larger than the Gentoo, and has very bright markings about the neck and upper part of the breast. It nests in tussock grass, but keeps nearer to the sea edge than the Gentoo. The Rockhopper is less common than either of the others. It is smaller than the Gentoo and resembles it somewhat in appearance except that the feet are of a more browny yellow, the patch over the eye is lacking, and it has a tuft of yellow and black feathers. Occasional Ringed and Adelie penguins were noticed, but they are stragglers and not commonly seen on the island.
Sea-elephants are common on all the beaches of South Georgia during the summer months, and are found also throughout the winter. They lie on the beaches or in wallows amongst the clumps of tussock grass. The smell from them is unpleasant and unmistakable. The bulls, except in the rutting season, usually remain apart from the cows, which collect, together with their young, into harems numbering from fifteen to fifty. The flippers, though short, are wonderfully flexible, and have curious little rudimentary fingers with which they scratch themselves in what is, at times, a ludicrously human way. They are fond of heaping sand upon themselves. When approached they make a curious windy roaring noise, and they may often be heard trumpeting from their wallows. Wilkins, in crossing the island, saw a sea-elephant track which led the whole way over. It was in soft snow and was unmistakable. Many other tracks went for a mile or so inland, but turned and came back to the beach from which they started, and only one was found to cross all the way. Weddell Seals come ashore in numbers, and also occasional sea-leopards.
The managers of the whaling stations reported that whales were plentiful during the height of the season (1921-22), though, as was to be expected, the numbers fell off with the onset of winter. The most numerous were humpback and blue whales, and a few sperm and sei-whales were caught. The return of the humpback is interesting, for in the early days of the whaling industry in 1904 and for several years afterwards this species formed the bulk of the catch (over 90 per cent.). The numbers fell off rapidly, till in 1912-13 they formed 38 per cent.; in 1915-16, 12 per cent.; and in 1917-18, only 2.5 per cent. It was generally considered and admitted by many of the whalers that the decline was due to ruthless hunting, but the explanation seems to lie in the distribution and drift of food supply. For a fuller description of South Atlantic whales and whaling, readers are referred to Appendix I of “South,” by Robert S. Clark, M.A., B.Sc.