876 THE KAEDING PETREL. 



The air was full at all tiincs ul circliiii;' birds, al least se\eral luuulreil of 

 iheiii, probably se\eral ilnmsand. They llew about excitedly, much uiore nimbly 

 than iu the day-time, but still erratically, incessantly clashing wings with their 

 fellows and now and then colliding with such force that thev fell dcjwn into 

 the grass. Those which Hew about uttered from time to time the character- 

 istic cry, but those a-wing were l)ut a small i)ortion of the total number in 

 evidence. The grass swarmed with birds working their way down thru to tlie 

 Ijurrows, or else struggling out, all giving from time to time the rolling cackle 

 which is the accompaniment of acli\ity; while from the ground itself came an 

 attendant chorus of cries. Taken altogether, there were thousands, |)erhaps 

 tens of thousands of l.iirds in motion, and the total effect of the rustling and 

 the cackling (or crowing I was a dainty uproar of notable proportions, a ;ie\er- 

 to-be-forgotten liabel of strange sounds. And in this fairy tumult not the 

 least element was the pee|)ing an<l whining of the chicks, both tended and 

 uiiteuded. 



The characteristic cry is that gi\en al)o\e, but it was fretjuently abbrevi- 

 ated to PcttcyctlcycU. cttcvctlcycU. This was the only adult sound heard save 

 a rolling crv rendered staccato in r"s and Is. which came apparently from birds 

 standing at the month of (he ]iurro\\>. The note with its short e's is instantly 

 suggestive of the name, and if the notes of other Petrels resemble this one, 

 I should unhesitatingly say that the name is imitative, and that the classic 

 explanation of "Little Peter walking u])on the wa\-es" is, like so many other 

 philological traditions, more ingenious than probable. 



Concerning tlie numl)er of l)ir(ls in this colon)- is was difficult to form a 

 judgment. We explored lift\- nests, reiiresenting a hundred birds, in the least 

 populous portion of the colony: yet the area affected was no sensible portion 

 of the whole, certainlv not a hundredth, probably not a fi\-e-liundredth part. 

 Based ui)on this estimate alone, the number of resident liirds would run from 

 ten to fift\- thousand, and it might easily be much greater. I think tlie birds 

 in the air sini])l\- represented the newcomers, who took a few turns about the 

 island as thev came in from the ocean, ])reparatory to settling down to the 

 business of feeding their mates. Certainly the majority of the birds were at all 

 times below the ground : while the number in transition ma\ l)e judged by the 

 fact that at one o'clock, when I left the bed and groped about iu the darkness 

 on hands and knees, I picked up birds both from the ground and the grass. 



At four o'clock the \'olume of souml bad subsided, ami not alio\-e a dozen 

 flitting forms were seen; while at si.x o'clock there was no slightest sign to 

 betray the presence of the sleeping multitude. 



