416 Mr. D. le Souef on Birds found 



accomplish their object. They came up with considerable 

 force, holding their heads well back and stretching out their 

 expanded feet at the same time^ and the fact of having their 

 wings half closed gave them a very ungainly appearance when 

 alighting. If there is only a light breeze they can alight 

 easily enough, although they often stumble before gaining 

 a proper foothold. I noticed that whenever they flew off 

 they ahvays shook their tails from side to side a few times, 

 and also when they passed excreta while flying they did the 

 same thing. 



Only one egg is laid, and that probably during the first 

 week in October; and all the eggs hatch out within a few 

 days of each other, showing that the birds commence laying 

 at nearly the same time. About half the nests had newly- 

 hatched young in them, and the eggs taken had young ones 

 just ready to hatch; two addled eggs were obtained. The 

 young are very fat and helpless, and if held up by their legs 

 a small amount of oil runs out of their mouths ; they are 

 covered with white down and their beaks are black. They 

 generally lie down in the nest, laying their head on one 

 side, and at first sight have the apjDcarance of being dead. 

 When feeding they put their head right into the parent's 

 mouth, their food consisting of an oily -looking substance. 



On a warm day the parent bird was often noticed partly 

 standing up in the nest and leaning backwards, so as 

 to leave the chick uncovered, I presume for the sake of 

 coolness, and also to let the little one sit up and move about 

 in the nest. No young one was seen without the parent bird 

 being on the nest. 



The birds sat very closely on their single egg. This was 

 kept in a kind of longitudinal bag, bare of feathers just below 

 the breast-bone, into which the egg fitted, and was con- 

 sequently very warm. Even when the bird half stood up in 

 the nest the egg could not always be seen, but when the bird 

 moved about the egg came down. Tlie nests being dry, the 

 eggs kept fairly clean ; most of them were freckled more or 

 less with reddish-brown surface-markings on the larger end. 

 In some cases these markings were minute, numerous, and 



