HAUNTS OF THE SHEARWATER 213 



or twelve yards, and putting a hand (well gloved, if he 

 is wise) into the holes his feet have made, feels fingers 

 seized by sharply hooked beaks, which cut and make 

 themselves felt through stout 'dogskin,' that he can 

 realise in the faintest degree the number of birds 

 hidden in the ground around. 



The burrows vary considerably in length, but seem 

 all to be engineered on the same general principles, 

 entering the ground horizontally, or in a downward 

 direction, and rising a yard or two from the end until 

 within a foot or so of the surface, and then dipping 

 again. 



It is at the highest, and hi wet weather presumably 

 the driest, part of the burrow, where the borings 

 approach the surface most nearly, and consequently 

 where an incautious footstep breaks through most 

 readily, that the single white egg, not unlike a small 

 smooth-shelled hen's egg, is laid commonly on a few 

 stalks of brake or grass. 



The bird, if at home, is invariably to be found a few 

 feet beyond the egg in the deeper inner chamber, which 

 serves as a retiring-room in case of alarm, and possibly 

 as a second bedroom when both birds are in. When 

 turned adrift, it is for a time more hopelessly dazed 

 than an owl pulled out into sunshine, from a hollow 

 tree, waddling and flapping helplessly for some minutes 

 before waking up to the use of its marvellous wings, 

 which, by the bye, have been developed at the ex- 

 pense of the legs, which are feeble and comparatively 

 useless. 



