22 Mr. R. Hall on the 



aud iu it were tunnels, always beginning under a small 

 cascade, and running back for a distance varying from 5 

 to 8 feet. In one instance I dug 11 feet to reacli the 

 egg. The holes are in groups of from three to six, judging 

 from four colonies examined by myself. At the end of a 

 crooked tunnel is a semi-spherical cavity with a flat floor 

 covered with water, and in the middle of this space is a 

 raised circular bed of rootlets, saucer-like, inverted, with an 

 indent just above the water-level. In this nest lies the single 

 egg, measuring about 3"4 by 2*2 inches. The diameter of 

 one cavity surrounding the nest proper was 22 inches one 

 way and 19 inches another, the height 6 inches ; and of the 

 nest proper the diameter was 13 inches. Broken sprigs 

 of grass in water at the tunnel entrance are indicative of 

 occupancy. Dr. Kidder obtained a young one on September 

 15th, and an egg on December 16tli. 



Early in February I secured fresh eggs, but found that by 

 January 27th most of the eggs were much incubated, while 

 some nests contained young. In three examples of the 

 nestling the down was uniform slate-brown on the throat. 

 The sitting birds in three cases had white chins only, while 

 a fourth had white blotches on the cheeks. Throughout our 

 sojourn on or near the island I did not see a typical Spectacled 

 Petrel. I may mention that, like Dr. Kidder, I saw birds 

 flying about without any of the white on the chin which is 

 characteristic of this species. I distinctly observed one (as it 

 settled to pick up scraps of seal-meat near the ship) which 

 looked exactly like M. parkinsoni of the New Zealand seas, 

 a species Avhich has not been hitherto recognized as a 

 frequenter of Kerguelen. 



Priofinus ciNEREUs (Gm.) ; Salvin, Cat. B. xxv. p. 390. 



Specimens were not obtained, but these birds often wheeled 

 astern of the brig ; more after the style of the Albatross than 

 that of the smaller Petrels. One, when we were stopping 

 from full speed to pick up something from the water, showed 

 blotches of yellow on the under webs of the toes, which 

 were rapidly opened and shut, but otherwise it presented 

 the recognized characters of the Great Grey Petrel. 



