8 



NATURAL HISTORY OF KERGUELFN ISLAND. 



concealed by grass, and lined with feathers from the breast of the old 

 bird. The eggs vary in shape from a regular ovoid to an ellipsoid, and 

 differ considerably in size. The shell is thin, smooth (as usual in this 

 family), and compactly homogeneous in structure, showing under the 

 lens only very shallow linear depressions. Color is a uniform pale 

 olive-green. Measurements are as follows, the braces including speci- 

 mens found together in a single nest: — 



Graculus caruncul'atus, {Gm.). (p. 7.) 



Eggs are two or three in number, first found November 5. Nests are 

 built on rocky shelves in the precipitous faces of cliffs overlooking the 

 sea. The base of the nest is built up to a considerable height, some- 

 times as much as two feet, and is composed of mud, excrement, and 

 decaying vegetable-matter. Upon this pedestal are arranged blades of 

 grass, inclosing a cap-shaped cavity some ten inches across. It would 

 seem that the old nests are used year after year ; a new layer being 

 added each season, so that they differ considerably in height. In vshape, 

 the eggs are long sharply-pointed ovoids. The structure of the shell is 

 coarsely granular, and the color is an uniform pale green. Externally, 

 there is the usual considerable calcareous deposit, which appears under 

 the lens to be structureless, chalky, and disposed in masses of unequal 

 thickness. It is here and there striated, wrinkled, or otherwise marked, 

 as if deposited in a soft state, and afterward hardened by exposure to 

 the air, leaving the shell proper partly exposed, especially about the 

 smaller end. 



