THfc BOOK OF MIGRATORY BIRDS Ql 



opinion among sailors that the petrels carry their eggs 

 under their wings in order to hatch them is no less un- 

 founded than the fancy of their causing storms; it is 

 indeed physically impossible. 



They have been ascertained to breed on rocky shores, in 

 numerous communities like the bank-swallow, making their 

 nests in the holes and cavities of the rocks above the sea, 

 returning to feed their young only during the night with 

 the superabundant oily food from their stomachs. The 

 quantity of the oily matter is so considerable that in the 

 Faroe Isles they use petrels for candles, with no other 

 preparation than drawing a wick through the body of the 

 birds from the mouth to the rump. While nesting they 

 make a cluttering or croaking noise, similar to frogs, which 

 may be heard during the whole night on the shores of the 

 Bahamas and Bermuda Islands and on the coasts of Cuba 

 and Florida, where they abound. 



Forster says they bury themselves by thousands in holes 

 underground, where they rear their young and lodge at 

 night ; and in New Zealand the shores resound with the 

 noise similar to the clucking of hens or the croaking of 

 frogs, which they send forth from their concealment. 



The eggs of the petrel are surprisingly large considering 

 the diminutive size of the bird, being as fine as those of 

 the thrush. The female lays two eggs of a dirty or dingy- 

 white, encircled at the larger end by a ring of fine rust- 

 coloured freckles. In many parts of the world, notably 

 Juan Fernandez and similar Pacific islands, they occupy 

 the rabbit burrows or scoop out similar earth channels, 

 and in this respect they imitate the sea-parrot or puffin. 



The Puffin (Fratercida arctica) is one of the best known 

 excavators. It is remarkable for the singular form of its 

 bill, which exactly resembles two very short blades of a 

 knife applied one against the other by the edge, so as to 

 form a sort of triangle, but longer than it is broad, and 

 channelled transversely with three or four little furrows 

 near the point. From the position of the feet, also, which 



