98 BULLETIN 121, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Thinking I would find eggs, I returned to San Benedicto from Socorro Island 

 two weeks later, but was disappointed. IVIany of the burrows were empty, 

 and all had been extended two feet or more in length, and the nest of green 

 plants moved back to the end. As before, wlien birds were found there were 

 usually two. 



The two following weeks were spent at Clarion, between two and three hun- 

 dred miles west of San Benedicto. At Clarion P. cuneatus was rare and only 

 seen at sea. Neither here nor at Socorro were there any signs of nesting 

 colonies. San Benedicto was reached again May 31, and though dozens of 

 burrows were opened, scarcely any bird.s were found. The tunnels had now a 

 length of from eight to ten feet, having been extended another two feet or 

 more, and as before, the nesting material moved to the end. The few birds 

 found were generally in the shorter burrows, which were perhaps incomplete. 

 Only one egg was found with the parent, a white-bellied bird. 



Toward evening a greater percentage of birds began to appear from sea- 

 ward, but at no time before dark did the numbers congregated about the island 

 equal those seen a month earlier. 



From the data obtained I would place the nesting season of P. cuneatus at 

 least three months later than that of either opisthomelas or atirirttlaris, which 

 both deposit their eggs at about the same time, in early March. 



Maj. G. Ralph Meyer writes to me that: 



This bird breeds quite abundantly on Rabbitt Island, a small volcanic island 

 off the east shore of Oahu (in the Hawaiian Islands). They occupy deserted 

 rabbit burrows, going in a short distance. In each case I could see the old 

 bird sitting on the egg. I captured one of the old birds and finally killed it. 

 It was very vicious and its sharp bill and claws drew blood from my hands in 

 several places. The birds would not leave the nests even after I had taken 

 the eggs and tried to drive them out. The only bird in sight was the one on 

 the egg in each case. It is probable that only one bird remains in the vichiity 

 of the nest at a time. 



Dr. Walter K. Fisher (1906) gives a very good account of the 

 burrowing habits of the wedge-tailed shearwater on Laysan Island, 

 from which I quote as follows: 



The uau kane is an abundant bird on Laysan, and far and away the form 

 most familiar to persons cruising in Hawaiian waters. Although so common 

 on Laysan, Mr. Schlemmer estimates that in point of numbers it is second to 

 Aestrelata hypolcuca. The greater number are congregated in a zone perhaps 

 50 yards wide around the lagoon, some distance seaward from the bare flood 

 plain mentioned in the narrative. It is surprising how consistently they keep 

 to this locality, as they are rare elsewhere on the island. This area is shared 

 with albatrosses, rails, and in places with Sterna lunata, and overlaps the wide 

 Aestrelata colonies. The burrows are among tall bushy grass as well as in the 

 open among matted juncus and succulent portulaca. 



While we were on the island the birds sat in pairs all day near the entrance 

 to their homes, or if the sun grew too warm retired a short way into the tun- 

 nel, where they kept up an almost constant cooing. 



Not infrequently one will observe the shearwaters cleaning out old burrows 

 or in the act of lengthening them. I saw but one tunnel newly started, so that 

 the number of yearly visitants seems to keep fairly constant. In digging, the 

 birds scratch with bill and feet, and with the same implements shove the loose 

 sand and soil under their bodies, when they kick it in little jets far out behind. 



