SEA BIRDS' HAUNTS 



67 



crept forward, till a dozen birds took wing; a minute 

 later the others rose and circled in the air. The 

 nests, composed of seaweed, mingled with evil-smell- 

 ing guano, were built in terraces on the bare rock; 

 some were on ledges only a few feet above the sea. 

 Both eggs and nestlings were observed. The latter 



PACIFIC GULL'S NEST AND EGG 



were ugly objects, covered in dusky-brown or blackish 

 down. The odour arising from the rookery was so 

 strong that we did not linger there. Death had been 

 busy among the nests, and decayed bodies of many 

 chicks were festering in the sun. Some of the in- 

 nocents had been trampled flat. One nest contained 

 three chicks, two dead and the other alive. Decom- 

 posed pieces of fish were scattered among the nests. 

 No sanitary inspectors here, to insist upon cleanliness. 

 Farther along the coast a second rookery was dis- 



