52 Mr. W. R. Oi?ilvie Grant on Birds 



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the ground was honeycombed with burrows in every direc- 

 tion, and gave way at each step, one's boots rapidly becoming 

 full of sand. By thrusting one's arm into one hole after 

 another, we soon procured a fine series of specimens, 

 accompanied in most cases by an egg, for we had evidently 

 hit off the breeding-season, and most of the birds, having 

 laid their single e^^, were beginning to sit. Most of the 

 eggs were w^liite, more or less finely spotted, and often 

 zoned towards the larger end, with dark red and purplish 

 dots, but some few were equally spotted all over the shell, 

 while one was almost entirely devoid of markings. In 

 shape they vary considerably, some being perfect ovals 

 equally round at both ends, while others are slightly pointed 

 at the one end (c/. Forbes, Ibis, 1893, p. 542). Both 

 sexes take part in incubation, for out of twelve birds 

 captured on the egg three were males. While thus en- 

 gaged we found quite a number of dead birds and sucked 

 eggs, evidently the work of the mice already mentioned, 

 as their droppings were to be seen all about the burrows, 

 and the marks of their teeth upon the empty shells were 

 unmistakable. The birds, some of which were quite freshly 

 killed and almost untouched, were invariably done to 

 death by being bitten at the nape of the neck, and in some 

 cases part of the brain had been eaten. It seemed curious 

 that these comparatively small mice should be able to kill a 

 bird several times larger than themse1^^es, and provided with 

 a fairly strong, hooked bill ; but no doubt the Petrels get 

 caught in the end of their buri'ow, and, being terrified, do 

 not even try to defend themselves. We obtained no young 

 of this species, and the most advanced eggs Avere but half 

 incubated on April 27th. We never heard the call of 

 this bird; those flying over the sea during the daytime 

 were always perfectly silent so far as we heard, though they 

 constantly passed close to our tug, and there was no lack of 

 them. When caught on their eggs they uttered a short, 

 grunting note, much like that given vent to by the domestic 

 Pigeon under similar circumstances. Our Lanzarote pilot 

 informed us that numbers of these birds breed on the Little 



