LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN PETRELS AND PELICANS. 67 



about the middle or last of October, and occasionally later. He 

 says that for a few days after the arrival of the shearwaters in the 

 spring, the birds do not seem to be on the lookout for food, but pass 

 the time in resting; in large flocks on the water, and that the same 

 is their custom for a few days before their departure in the fall. 



Food. — Off Chatham on Cape Cod or off the end of Cape Ann one 

 may study the feeding habits of these birds to good advantage from 

 a fishing boat, where fish cleaning is going on and the entrails and 

 heads thrown OA^erboard. One may go provided with fish livers 

 and other choice titbits and from a clear sky attract these birds. 

 From all sides they come skimming over the waves, alight softly 

 on the water, and with head and breast held high and wings curved 

 up and partly spread, they advance by rapid foot strokes to their 

 feast. Greedily they seize the food with head and necks stretched 

 along the surface of the water and they pay but little heed to the 

 men in the boat. 



As petrels and shearwaters suddenly appear even in a thick fog 

 whenever oily fish gurry is thrown on the water, sailors believe that 

 the birds are attracted by scent. But the organs of smell are very 

 imperfectly developed in this family and it therefore seems much 

 more likely that in their wide wanderings some birds chance upon 

 the food, and that the cries of the fortunate ones soon attract others. 

 Indeed fishermen sometimes immitate their cries in order to attract 

 them. The following graphic account of the greater shearwaters 

 on the fishing banks is contributed by Mr. Walter H. Rich : 



The discovery of a morsel of food adrift means that every hag witliin reach 

 will come charging down at full speed and plump headforemost into the midst 

 of a plunging, striking mass of birds upon the water. Presently one will get 

 a good hold upon the prize and strive to bear it away. Instantly he is mobbed, 

 and a mix-up as desperate as any college football game can show is in progress 

 at once. Here and there a bird slips quietly out of the mass and hurriedly 

 gulps down the bit he has managed to secure, gasps a couple of times, sounds 

 his squealing war cry, and runs upon the water with rapidly moving feet, 

 his half-opened wings fanning the surface, his body held almost erect upon 

 his tail, and plunges again head long into the melee. Here and there the 

 curving fin or the waving fluke of the big blue shark shows above the water 

 where he sculls lazily through the seas, rolling clumsily to snap at floating 

 fish or waste and missing as often as he wins, for the hags take desperate 

 chances with him, scuttling clear only at the last instant. Perhaps tliey are 

 not always fortunate, for birds minus a foot or otherwise maimed are not 

 lacking in the flocks. I saw one whose upper mandible was missing from the 

 nostrils out. The bird seemed in pretty good condition, too, for food was 

 plentiful and easily secured. 



The meal finished they rest upon the water, if the weather is fine, bathing 

 and dipping like sparrows in a puddle, with much shaking of wings, wagging 

 of tails, and dipping of heads and beaks, rising on their tails to splash, dive, and 

 splutter. This over, they settle down upon the sea to drift at ease, only rising 

 to fly lazily to a position slightly in advance of the steamer, thus paralleling 



