NO. 2298. THE GUANO BIRDS OF PERU—COKER. 481 



stripe, together with the characteristic manner of flight, makes this 

 bird most easily recognized even at a great distance. 



A sm-prising characteristic of the patillo is its cry, which is entirely 

 milike that of the ordinary cormorants that utter a coarse grunt or 

 croak. When flying from the nest it often gives a high-pitched 

 repeated chirp, somewhat like the note of the sparrow. This 

 undoubtedly accounts for the common name sometimes used, 

 "chuita," a name certainly more suggestive of a peewee than of a 

 cormorant. 



The nests are always isolated. Those examined were composed of 

 a great variety of seaweeds, of many leathery worm tubes, of straw, 

 feathers, and string, apparently any accessible and suitable material 

 (pi. 65, fig. 1). One nest was weighed, although, unfortunately, more 

 than a third of the material had been lost in removing it from the 

 side of the cliff. The amount saved was found to weigh 8 pounds, 

 and the complete nest must have weighed over 12 pounds. It was 

 composed of Ulva and of various brown and red seaweeds, but the 

 bulk of the total material was a chocolate brown weed with white 

 tips, probably Corallina cJiilensis. The worm tubes, however, 

 formed a very considerable portion, constituting 2f pounds or one- 

 third of the material saved. These tough tubes, which bind together 

 the looser materials to give strength and stability to the nest, must 

 be of great value to birds that build, as the patillos do, such large 

 and strong nests on almost any sort of a cliff where there is a bare 

 foothold for the bird and the scantiest basis of support for the nest. 

 Such tubes are, of course, taken only by diving, since the coast is 

 free of exposed tidal flats. 



The nests are frequently formed also deep in the caverns that 

 undermine the walls of islands or mainland. The nests were found 

 to have two or three eggs, but I did not happen to observe a nest 

 with more than two young birds. The eggs are of very elongate 

 oval form, pale blue, but smeared with a white coating unevenly 

 distributed. Two eggs measured were respectively 6.3 cm by 3.8 

 cm, and 6.4 cm by 3.9 cm. 



Tschudi ^ remarks on pecuharities of the coloration of the eye in 

 this species, stating that the pupil of the eye of the patillo is sea 

 green. I did not observe this, but my notes direct attention to the 

 bright blue beading on the eyelids, 16 blue beads in all surrounding 

 the eye. 



The patillo (P. gaimardi), does not appear to extend very far 

 north of Callao. It was never observed at the Lobos Islands of the 

 north; in that region the P. lougainvillei is locally known as the 

 "patillo." The name, "chiquitoy," applied in some localities to the 



» On p. 314 of the Ormthologie, previously cited. 

 115690^19— Proc.N.M. vol .56 31 



