May, 1908.] THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. l5 



desolatus, one of those fragile ocean wanderers known to mariners 

 as "Whale-birds.""^ When a whaler harpoons a whale and is 

 cutting up the blubber, these sprites of the ocean congregate in 

 thousands and snap up any of the stray pieces that happen to 

 float about. They also suck up any globules of floating oil, of 

 which substance they seem particularly fond./' Although there 

 may be only a few Whale-birds in the vicinity when a whale is 

 killed, yet in an incredibly short space of time thousands of 

 these birds come flying in to the banquet. Some may consider 

 this an example of instinct, but one must remember that a bird 

 can see about fifty miles, and should a W^hale-bird observe a dead 

 whale, its excited actions, due to the thoughts of a feast, attract 

 the attention of several birds within sight, although they may be 

 ranging over the sea within a radius of thirty miles distant. 

 Other birds, again, which are flying within a radius of sixty miles, 

 observe the actions of those within the thirty miles radius 

 and make for the centre point. The birds roaming the ocean 

 hundreds of miles away are thus informed of the chances 

 of a meal, and so congregate at a given spot on the ocean in 

 large numbers, and as they are powerful fliers it does not take 

 them long to do so. 



The Dove-like Prion is vernacularly known at Portland as the 

 "Snow-bird." There were very few of their rat-like burrows in 

 this small area of soil, which was riddled in every direction with 

 Penguin and Mutton-bird holes, and as the Dove-like Prion is a 

 fragile bird, and unable to fight either the Mutton-bird or Penguin 

 for its choice of a nesting site, it has perforce to utilize that 

 portion of the rookery unoccupied by these last-named birds, 

 which is the outer edge of the soil where it meets the rock. As 

 the soil, especially at these parts, is loose and friable, the 

 hurricanes that at times come raging over this exposed islet tear 

 away the edges of the rookery and destroy these unfortunate birds. 

 Evidences of the destructive work of wind and water were plainly 

 visible. All along the extreme edge of the rookery were burrows 

 of the Dove-like Prions, from which the covering of soil had been 

 swept away by the wind, whilst in the nesting cavity at the 

 extremity many broken and a few unbroken eggs were found, 

 one egg comprising a clutch, whilst some of the adult birds had 

 been blocked in their burrows and had been smothered. Most 

 of the burrows of these birds had a turn in them, instead of being 

 excavated straight into the soil. This turn was no doubt made 

 by the birds mainly to prevent the complete choking up of their 

 burrows by particles of wind-driven soil, but in some cases the 

 turn in the tunnelling was due to a hard piece of rock intruding 

 and barring the way, rendering it necessary to turn off in another 

 direction. The burrows measured in depth about two feet, and 



* See plate 3, fig. 2. 



