LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN PETRELS AND PELICANS. 27 



Mr. G. E. Verrill (1895) says that, on Gough Island: 



They lay separately, in open laud or knolls. The nests are low, and built of 

 grass and moss. Commence laying the middle of September. They lay one egg, 

 which is usually quite rough ; but, if robbed, will lay a second and a third time. 

 These birds leave their nests when you approach them, while the other birds 

 do not. 



Eggs. — The eggs of the giant fulmar have been described by 

 various writers as ovoid-conical, ovoid, or elliptical in shape. The 

 shell is exceedingly coarse and granulated, rough and glossless, fre- 

 quently with limy nodules. The color is dull dirty white and often 

 much nest stained, owing to the filthy habits of the birds. Clarke 

 (1906) gives the average length of 80 eggs as 103.8 and the average 

 breadth as 65.7 millimeters. 



The measurements of 35 eggs in various collections average 103 

 by 60.4 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 115 

 by 65, 108.5 by 70, 93.6 by 65, and 102 by 61.4 millimeters. 

 " I'owip'.— Capt. F. W. Hutton (1865) says that: 



The young are at first covered with a beautiful long, light-gray down ; when 

 fledged they are dark brown, mottled Avith white. When a person approaches the 

 nest the old bii'd keeps a short distance away, while the young ones squirt a 

 horridly smelling oil out of their mouths to a distance of six or eight feet. 



Mr. Robert Hall (1900) gives us a good description of a colony on 

 Kerguelen Island containing young ; he writes : 



Having ascended the short eastern summit, I noticed near the bottom of a 

 wind-sheltered slope a fine colony. To commence with, I surprised two just 

 below the crest, and they started running with wings outstretched but not 

 flapping, and continued, with short stoppages, several hundred yards to the 

 beach, keeping just ahead of me. Of the colony, some birds were sitting and 

 others standing, a few with expanded wings, and others essaying jumps on to 

 Azorella clumps 2 feet in height. Several pairs, with stretched necks, ap- 

 peared to be engaged in controversy, and occasionally a low squeaking noise 

 was uttered. On the first sight of me they moved toward the edge of the cliff; 

 but when I sat down within 100 yards of them they became more confiding, and 

 many gradually approached me, not flying, and without noise. Both young and 

 old seemed to be inquisitive, but a gunshot half a mile away would cause them 

 to look shy for a minute. After a rest, which they often took by sitting down, 

 they would fly over with a prolonged guttural croak. There were from 50 to 70 

 of them, and by appearances many young birds were already abroad at this 

 date (January 7th). As I drove them to the beach I stumbled upon quite a 

 strange sight ; it was their rookery, and some twenty-one grey fledglings, as 

 large as full-grown geese, were nestling among the scattered tussocks of 

 Azorella. The nests were made by tearing away the soft stems of this plant 

 and then sitting upon them. 



On approaching a bird, which was always a few yards apart from its fellows, 

 it would utter a low grunt, bite, and stand upon the defensive, ejecting a quan- 

 tity of oily matter that would ruin almost any suit of clothes. The adults pre- 

 ferred to run along the clifl: top rather than fly, and I drove them like any other 

 fowls. They have no confidence in taking wing from the land, but do so at 



