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OBSERVATIONS ON MANX SHEARWATERS AND 



STORM-PETRELS AT THE SCILLY ISLES. 



BY 



NORMAX H. JOY. 



On June 18th, 1912, I visited Annet, Scilly Islands, to 

 observe the Manx Shearwaters {Puffiyius p. pufflnus) and 

 Storm-Petrels {Hijdrobates pelngicus) breeding there. I 

 hoped to stop the whole night, but unfortunately, starting 

 in a hurry, a very insufficient supply of refreshment was 

 taken, and I was obliged to leave with the boatman at 

 11.15 p.m. The whole island is undermined by the 

 burrows of Shearwaters, and one's foot often accidently 

 broke through a thin roof, sometimes on to a sitting bird 

 below. In this way many birds were captured and 

 ringed. The eggs seen were evidently hard set, but only 

 one young bird was found There were also numerous 

 Puffins on the island, but these invariably occupied 

 burrows on the side of a distinct slope, generally close to 

 the sea, or were nesting under large boulders on the beach. 

 The sun set at about 8.17 p.m., after which time I 

 waited close to a ridge of large boulders, where a few 

 Storm-Petrels were known to breed. At about 9.30 a 

 peculiar purring noise, which I at first mistook for a 

 distant Nightjar's song, was heard. This proved to be 

 the note of a Storm-Petrel nesting under the boulders. 

 It was rather more highly pitched than the Nightjar's, 

 and ended abruptly after a few seconds in a higher note 

 resembling " Wit." In a short time birds were heard 

 uttering this and another sharp double-note at a distance 

 of every two or three feet of one another, under the 

 boulders of the whole ridge. At about 10 p.m the first 

 Storm-Petrel was seen on the wing, and a few were 

 observed to creep up from among the boulders and 

 flutter off. By 10.30 there were numbers flying up and 

 down this boulder-ridge, keeping fairly strictly to its 

 limits, the flight reminding one most forcibly of that of 

 the Swallow. 



