TJicir Eggs and A^csts. igy 



in a hole in some wild and half inaccessible part of 

 the islands frequented, and in it one egg of exceed- 

 ing whiteness is laid, and remarkable for the fine 

 texture of the shell and the musky scent of the entire 

 Qgg. It is about 2^ inches long by If broad. 



DUSKY SHEARWATER— (/^?/^;^/^^ obscums). 

 A rare straggler. 



BULWER'S PETREL-(5///et/6^n^ columbina ; 



formerly, TJialassidroma Bidwerii). 

 A Petrel of sufficiently rare occurrence. 



FORK-TAILED PETREL— (0^;;/^r/^^r^^ lencorrhoa ; 

 formerly, Thalassidro7Ha Leachii). 



Breeds at St. Kilda, and an occasional straggler on 

 the British coasts. 



STORM PETREL— (Pr^r^//^r/^ pelagica ; formerly, 

 TJialassidroma procellaria). 



Mother Carey's Chicken. — This is said to be the 

 smallest web-footed bird known. It never comes to 

 the shore except at the breeding-season, and only 

 seeks comparative shelter under the pressure of very 

 heavy weather. It breeds in the Scilly Islands, some 

 of the islands on the Irish coast, and abundantly on 

 St. Kilda, the Orkneys and Shetland. They breed in 

 holes in a cliff, or under large-sized stones, which, 

 from their great size and accumulation of boulders 

 and large shingle about them, afford many deep 

 recesses well suited to the wants of the nesting 



