2 20 BIRDS OF THE BAHAMA ISLANDS. 



nately, I did not visit any of their breeding-places during the period 

 of incubation, and am therefore unable to state anything regarding 

 their breeding habits from personal experience. He says: — 



" On making inquiries as to what sea birds breed on the keys, I 

 was constantly told of a singular bird, with a hooked bill, that only 

 flew during the night, and was known by the name of Pimblico. It 

 proved to be the present species. It is very abundant, being found 

 on all the uninhabited keys near the channel which are not too 

 frequently visited by wreckers or fishermen. They breed in holes 

 in the rocks, as described in the ' Naturalist in Bermuda.' Near 

 Nassau, at the Ship Channel Keys, where I first met with them, 

 incubation had already commenced by the 24th of March. The 

 nest consists of a few dry twigs, is always placed in a hole or under 

 a projecting portion of the rock, seldom more than a foot from the 

 surface, and never, as far as my experience goes, out of reach of 

 the hand. On being caught, they make no noise, and do not resist 

 at all, — unlike the Tropic Bird, which fights manfully, biting and 

 screaming with all its might. The egg does not seem to me to 

 resemble an ordinary hen's egg; the shell is much more fragile and 

 more highly polished. I broke a number of them in endeavoring 

 to remove the bird from the nest. They vary a good deal in size 

 and form, some of them being quite rounded, and others elongated. 

 Three of them measured as follows: one .059 by .036, another .052 

 by .033, and the third .051 by .037. Both sexes incubate. 



" Why these birds and the Stormy Petrels never enter or leave 

 their holes in the daytime is one of the mysteries of nature ; both 



