LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN PETRELS AND PELICANS. 73 



Food. — The Manx shearwater has feeding habits similar to those 

 of other shearwaters. It is practically never seen by day about its 

 breeding grounds, but appears as soon as the sun goes down. Its 

 food consists of small fish, Crustacea, squids, and surface-floating 

 offal. When caught it emits a greenish oily fluid w^hich leaves a 

 yellow stain. Wright (1864) says that at the island of Filfola 

 near Malta " both young and old feed on Inula crithmoides^ one of 

 the few plants that grow on that desolate rock." This habit, he 

 says, accounts for the green color of the ejected fluid. 



Behavior. — The flight is rapid and skimming, and the birds not 

 infrequently settle on the water and dive freely ; they remain under 

 water but a short time. According to Saunders (1889) its "note is 

 a cuck-cuch-oo., generally repeated three times." From its gutteral 

 notes it obtains several local names. Thus in the Scilly Islands it 

 is known as crew and cockathodon, and skidden; in Wales it is 

 called cuckle. Yarrell (1871) speaks of "the gutteral melodies they 

 pour forth as the spade approaches the end in which the ^gg is 

 deposited. I once caught a pair in one burrow who were crooning 

 a duet of this kind before we commenced operations. I presume 

 they were in the honeymoon, as there was no ^gg^'' 



Bewick (1847) quotes Willughby to the effect that at the Isle of 

 Man the young of this species " become extremely fat, and are taken 

 and salted down for keeping, and that the Eomish Church permitted 

 them to be eaten in Lent. * * * They usually sell them for 

 about ninepence the dozen, a very cheap rate." It hardly seems 

 necessary to invoke the agency of rats as a cause of the extermina- 

 tion of this bird in the Isle of Man. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Breeding range. — On Iceland and the Faroe Islands; on the 

 coasts of Wales and Ireland; on the Shetland, Orkney, and Scilly 

 Islands; on the Inner and Outer Hebrides; and on the Azores, 

 Salvages, and Madeira Islands. Formerly on the Isle of Man. The 

 bird found breeding in Bermuda has been described as a distinct 

 subspecies. 



Range. — Northeastern Atlantic Ocean, chiefly in the vicinity of 

 Great Britain. North to the coast of Norway and south to the 

 Canary Islands. AVestward rarely to Greenland and North Amer- 

 ica and perhaps regularly to South America. 



Migrations. — Arrives on its breeding grounds in February and 

 March; and leaves them in October and November. 



Casual records. — Has been taken in Greenland (Umanak, 1872), 

 Brazil (Iguape, September 21, 1901), and Argentina (Mar del 

 Plata, October 4 to 9, 1914, 4 taken). The latter may be a regular 



