Birds of Kerguelen Island, 7 



It pecked at some hard biscuit^ but could do notliing with it; 

 then I blew out a scrap or two from my mouth, but the noise 

 seemed strange to the bird and it retreated ; soon it came 

 back, tried one of the scraps, but did not swallow it ; next 

 it attacked my boot, but left immediately and again tried 

 the scrap of biscuit ; after which, with one or two close looks 

 into my face, it walked away. These typical acts of inquisi- 

 tiveness lasted from 10 to 15 minutes. A sudden meetinar 

 with a few of these birds does not seem to frighten them. I 

 surprised 12 of them at one time, but they simply gathered 

 round me. If I moved my legs, the birds quivered a little, 

 but immediately recovered themselves. A. Sheathbill does 

 not indulge in eight hours' consecutive sleep, as I judge by 

 liaving had one staring into my face in tlie early hours of 

 the morning, for at least an hour, it seemed to me, while 

 camped beneath a rock. This bird is knowing enough to 

 put its own eggs under cover, and will either get well into 

 the rock-crevices or use a burrow made by one of the larger 

 Petrels, if one is to be found close against a great boulder. 

 The eggs, which vary, are always exposed to the light near 

 the entrance, and are deeply coloured. As soon as the 

 sitting parent hears a noise near the nest it jumps off to see 

 what is the matter, and just as quickly does the young one 

 get away from the nest into some hiding-place. This 

 accounts for seeing so many empty nests in February. 



The nest is circular, neatly made of seaweed, or sometimes 

 grasses, if grass be near. One nest, made of roots o(A^ure/la, 

 was placed 30 inclics down in a Petrel's tunnel, some 7-10 

 inches from the house-path of nearly every nest. The pair 

 referred to previously chose a mile of beach without large 

 . rocks, consequently they used a Petrel's earthy nest in the 

 cliff — the only one like this in a dozen nests found by me. 



My first find of eggs, three in number, was on the 29th 

 of December, but eggs were mostly fresh until the 27th of 

 January; on February 13th the eggs had Avell-developtd 

 embryos. I found the first young one on January 29th, 

 in one of some 20 nests observed on Hog Island, in 

 Hoyal Sound. This nestling was bluish, intermixed with 

 brown down; legs and feet bluish; nails black; bill dark 



