256 BRITISH. SEA VBIKDS: 
close above the waves, this way and that, one 
moment high above the horizon, the next deep 
down in the trough of the billows, pausing here 
and there for a moment with rapid beating wings, 
legs let down, and feet striking the water, to pick 
up some scrap of food. During the breeding 
season it is for the most part nocturnal in its habits, 
but at other times it seems to be abroad both by 
day and night. That it can swim well and buoyantly, 
I know from abundant experience, but whether it 
dives, as some writers assert, | am not prepared to 
say. Some Petrels, however, are habitually known 
to do so, as, for instance, the species composing the 
genus Halodroma. Shearwaters delight in a rough 
sea and a brewing storm, every bit as much as the 
smaller Petrels; no weather seems too boisterous 
for them. When on our rough night voyage to St. 
Kilda, we must have passed hundreds of Shear- 
waters, holding high carnival above the gray waters, 
flitting round our vessel in weird, erratic flight, like 
bird ghosts, their gambols in the gloom being most 
interesting. So far as my experience extends, the 
food of the Manx Shearwater consists entirely of 
cuttle-fish and sorrel, but the bird will pick up 
various scraps thrown from vessels. At St. Kilda 
this Shearwater is regarded as a delicacy. The 
natives also obtain quantities of oil from it. 
Throughout the summer the Manx Shearwater is 
nocturnal, and at the approach of darkness becomes 
very garrulous. Its note may be expressed as £z¢ty- 
