PETRELS. 267 
coo-roo, uttered two or three times in succession, 
and then a pause. So far as I could determine, this 
note is never uttered by the bird at sea, only when 
flying about its breeding station, or in or near its 
burrow, and is only heard at night. At St. Kilda 
the island of Soay is the grand breeding place of 
this Shearwater. The St. Kildans visit this island 
at times during the breeding season, going at night, 
knocking down the birds as they flutter about, and 
dragging others from their nests. Four hundred 
Shearwaters are sometimes slain thus in a single 
night. 
The Manx Shearwater is a somewhat late breeder, 
its eggs being laid towards the end of May, or 
during the first half of June. There are no known 
breeding places of this bird along the eastern coast 
line of Scotland and England; nor have any yet 
been discovered on the south coast of England, 
although I am positive the species nests in the 
South Hams of Devon. Its breeding area, so far 
as it is known, is almost precisely the same as that 
of the Stormy Petrel. Its favourite nesting-places 
are islands with a good ocean aspect, covered with 
turf and soft, loamy soil. Although gregarious 
during this period, many scattered pairs breed here 
and there along the coast. The bird probably pairs 
for life, returning yfar by year to a favourite 
nesting-place. It usually excavates a long and 
often winding burrow, making a slight nest of dry 
grass at the end, on which is laid a single white 
R 
