444 PUFFINUS ANGLORUM. 



uncommon in St. Kilda, where it breeds in excavations formed 

 by itself in tlie soft earth, filKng many of the fissures among 

 the rocks. Comparatively few are taken by the fowlers, for 

 it is never made a regular object of pursuit ; and yet I have 

 seen a bunch of several dozens brought by one of them from 

 the Island of Ivay. It lays but a single egg, which I was 

 told it deposits upon a slight nest of dried grass at the bottom 

 of its burrow, where it spends most of the day, during which 

 time few are to be seen, it being, in a manner, nocturnal in 

 its habits. Its flight is very characteristic, and, joined to 

 its dark colour, renders even a single individual very easy of 

 detection, though among a flock of other birds, and at a con- 

 siderable distance." 



A small island called the Calf of Man, close to the main- 

 land at its south end, was formerly inhabited by it in great 

 numbers, but is now said to be deserted. The Isle of Annet, 

 one of the Scilly Islands, is still frequented by it, as we 

 know from the account given to Mr. Yarrell by Mr. Mitchell. 

 Mr. Gould has had specimens sent him from the coast of 

 South Wales, where it is said to be abundant in spring. On 

 the southern coast it becomes rarer eastward, and has very 

 seldom been obtained on the east coast of England or Scot- 

 land. 



In winter it is dispersed over the seas, and probably 

 migrates southward. Its flight is gliding, rapid on occasion, 

 buoyant and easy. It flies low over the sea, descending into 

 the troughs of the waves, and mounting again. When 

 hovering over an object seen in the sea, it lets down its feet, 

 and pats the water with them. In dark or stormy weather 

 it has an ominous aspect as it glides rapidly along, and dis- 

 appears in the haze. Its food consists of various animal 

 substances ; but the particular kinds have not been deter- 

 mined, its gullet and stomach having usually been found 

 filled with decomposed matter and oil, which it vomits on 

 being seized. In March and April great numbers betake 

 themselves to certain localities, where they reside until the 

 end of August, when their young are fledged. They form 

 holes in the soft earth, in the crevices of rocks, or on giassy 

 slopes, each female depositing a single elhptical white egg. 



