252 THE BIRDS OF NORTH AM PTONSHIllE 



close to the water, rough or smooth, with no 

 visible motion of the wings beyond a few occasional 

 flaps on changing their course ; these birds have 

 frequently reminded me, mutatis mutandis, of accom- 

 plished skaters, from the speed and apparent absence 

 of exertion in their progress and evolutions. This 

 Shearwater breeds on many parts of the mainland 

 coasts and islands of the Mediterranean, but, in my 

 experience, is not so abundant in that sea as the 

 larger but very closely allied Kuhl's Shearwater, 

 Pitffinus kuhli; the largest assemblage that I ever 

 saw was in March 1882, just as we cleared the 

 harbour of Port Mahon, bound for La Spezia : we 

 must have seen many hundreds of the present species, 

 and that just named ; they were all busily engaged 

 in washing and preening their feathers. The 

 breeding-places of the Shearwater that I have visited 

 in various parts of the Mediterranean have generally 

 been amongst masses of rocks fallen from the clifls ; 

 occasionally the eg^ may be seen from outside the 

 hollow or recess amongst the stones in which the 

 nest is placed, but more often is at least at arm's 

 length from the entrance, and very frequently entirely 

 out of reach. It is said that this bird very generally 

 makes burrows for itself, and T have every reason to 

 believe the statement, but in my own experience I 

 cannot say that I ever took either bird or egg from 

 a burrow that I could positively consider as made 

 by the occupants, although I have frequently noticed 

 small quantities of sand or gravel scraped out from 

 under large blocks of stone, with a view, no doubt, 

 to enlargement of the already existing cavity or 

 passage. The nests that I saw were simply a handful 

 of dried grass, but the egg is often laid on the bare 



