194 



THE OOLOGIST. 



and you have an idea of the successful 

 Petrel hunter. After catching the bird 

 on the nest near the cave, I took a few 

 good whiffs of its feathers and this 

 made me familiar with its scent. The 

 Ashy Petrel has a musl'y smell, or as 

 some term it — "sti'ong." 



On the following day I set out to 

 spend an hour or two in hunting for 

 these eggs, I I'epaired to a rocky cliff on 

 the "West End" and selected a place 

 where there were many loose slabs of 

 rock. On smelling of a ci'evice in the 

 cliff I immediately recognized the scent 

 of the previous day and now I had a 

 Petrel. By removing a number of the 

 rocks I found the bird. She was un- 

 ceremoniously removed but as the nest 

 contained a young bii'd I replaced the 

 mother. In color the adult bird was 

 black, verging into a dark ash on the 

 breast. The tail was forked f of an 

 inch. The bird measured 7i inches in 

 length and 16i inches in width, the 

 wings of the Ashy Petrel being very 

 long. The beak was a dull black and 

 slightly hooked at the end, while at the 

 base was a sort of tube which is used to 

 spread oil over the bird's feathers. The 

 feet were webbed. 



I i-esvimed my search and found two 

 more nests in the same part of the cliff; 

 one above and the other a little below 

 my first. Both contained eggs but one 

 was accidentally broken in removing it 

 from the hole. Packing the other, I 

 went to a stone wall about three feet 

 high where I scented an^jjiher bird. 

 The nest was found among the stones' 

 on the ground and contained one egg 

 which is invariably the full comple- 

 ment. In no case did I lind any trace 

 of a nest, save the bare rock. The re- 

 mainder of my nests were situated 

 quite close to the residents of the 

 Island, and in most cases under piles of 

 rocks and bowlders which have, year 

 after year, accumaiated. 



Out of the eight eggs found, two 

 were lyi'oken Ijy accident, while the re- 

 maining six I now have. Of these two 



are cracked and incubated so as to be 

 unblowable. The six eggs measure as 

 follows: 1.12X.92; 1.13x.88; 1.12x.87i 

 1.18X.87; 1.25X.94: and 1.25x.88. This 

 gives an average of 1.17x.89. In color, 

 the egg of the Ashy Petrel is a creamy 

 white when fresh, with usually a wreath 

 of faint brown spots around the large 

 end. Out of my six specimens two are 

 very distinctly marked while the others, 

 are very faint. 



The remainder of the nests examin- 

 ed were situated much the same as 

 those I have described. In no case can 

 any special place be given as preferable 

 for Petrels, for they seem to breed al- 

 most anywhere among the rocks. But 

 I have never yet found them in holes 

 orburroAvs, they seeming to prefer crev- 

 ices and rents in the rock. In the cases 

 of some of the nests the birds must 

 have zigzagged in among the sharp 

 edges of stone until it found some tiat 

 ledge secure from molestation, whei'e 

 the single egg was laid, but it matters 

 very little where the bird may be, if 

 you are acquainted with its scent. 



The Ashy Petrel is strictly a noctur- 

 nal bird, which, like Cassin's Auklet,. 

 renders it much more difficult of dis- 

 covery. But the I novelty and what 

 might be termed excitement, of collect- 

 ing these eggs will ever make memor- 

 able my trip to the Farallones. 



C. Barlow, 

 Sai.ta Clara, Cal. 



After the Yellow-billed Magpie- 



This bird is found nowhere in the 

 world except California, where it nests 

 in colonies throughout the state. 



Unlike the European Magpie, which 

 is said to nest in gardens, etc., ours re- 

 sort to secluded places among the hills, 

 where if unmolested they will propagate 

 rapidly, occupying the same nest year 

 after j^ear and their colonies often ex- 

 tend for several miles. 



On the 8th of April last, I determined 

 to find a rookery and decided to explore 



