330 



THE OOLOGIST. 



Rolling up our sleeves and getting 

 down on all fours we let these medita- 

 tions take care of themselves, while we 

 started our arms on an exploring ex- 

 pedition into some of the holes. Soon 

 the first egg came to sight. What a 

 beauty it was before it was blown with 

 its delicate pinkish color and the little 

 ring of fine spots around the large end. 

 I did not stop long to admire it, for I 

 wanted some more. Soon another 

 beauty was unearthed and then an- 

 other and so on until I lost count. We 

 began to hunt for easier places to dig, 

 where the earth was softer, and there 

 found the burrows thicker, sometimes 

 running together. 



I noticed that several had recently 

 been dug out, and wondered what col- 

 lector had visited the island. Upon in- 

 quiring I learned that he was a resident 

 of the place and he soon put in an ap- 

 pearance in the shape of a large New- 

 foundland dog. Seeing all hands dig- 

 ging doggie seemed to fear that his 

 rights were being encroached upon. 

 Sticking his nose into a hole, he sniffed 

 once or twice and deciding that it con- 

 tained a bird, a few strokes with his 

 powerful paws and it was unearthed; 

 then a crunching of little bones and the 

 poor chickey had disappeared where 

 many a one had gone before. For the 

 fisherman told us that the dog lived 

 almost entirely on the petrel in the 

 summer time. 



All hands, including the dog. resum- 

 ed digging. We were just at the right 

 season, for nearly every hole contained 

 an egg. In none of them did incuba- 

 tion appear to have advanced more 

 than a week, but it was hard work dig- 

 ging them out although the burrows 

 were not very long, ranging from two 

 and one-half to three and one-half feet 

 in length, and very crooked, often mak- 

 ing a complete double on themselves, 

 and ending up near the entrance and 

 sometimes directly underneath it. 

 The nest, wiiich was placed at the 



end of the burrrow, was simply a laj'^er 

 of dried grass, very slightly hollowed. 

 One egg was the full set, and 1 have 

 never known of their laying more. The 

 bird was generaly on the nest; although 

 I saw a few containing fresh eggs 

 which the birds had left to take care of 

 themselves, probably not yet being 

 ready to begin sitting. In a few bur- 

 rows both the male and female were 

 present, and in every such case there 

 was no egg. Both bii*ds assist in incu- 

 bation, relieving each other at night, 

 for out of two dozen birds taken from 

 the nests there were two or three more 

 males than females in the lot. In their 

 habits they are very cleanly, there be- 

 ing no filth inside or around the en- 

 trance to their homes. With the excep- 

 tion of a few unfinished burrows, there 

 was no earth left around the entrance. 

 The same sites are probably used year 

 after year, for only a few were found 

 vacant. 



The birds when taken from their 

 nests, appeared stupified and tried to 

 find a place in which to crawl out of 

 sight. Some would simply tuck their 

 heads under a stone, or piece of sod 

 and then imagine themselves safe from 

 pursuit; others would run a few yards 

 through the grass and then take flight. 

 When once in the air, they would cir- 

 cle around once or twice to get their 

 bearings, and then start for the open 

 sea and were soon lost to sight. While 

 over the land their flight much resem- 

 bled the Night hawk's. I did not hear 

 them utter any note. 



There is one dirty habit these birds 

 have, which I wish they would remedy 

 before I visit them again. When you 

 pick one up to examine it, it blinks its 

 ej'es a few times in a stupid soi't of a 

 way, opens its bill and gasps once or 

 twice, and then with a funny jerk of 

 its head, vomits forth about a teaspoon- 

 ful of oil over your hands and clothes. 

 This oil is quite clear and varies in col- 

 or from light straw to reddish-yellow, it 



