86 



HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



of already existing cavities, and yet to those islands the Petrels 

 resort by thousands, for the purpose of breeding. The birds set 

 resolutely to work, and delve little burrows into the sandy soil, 

 seldom digging deeper than a foot, and, in fact, only making the 

 cavity sufficiently large to conceal themselves and their treasure. 





Petrel. 



Each bird lays a single egg, which is white, and of small di- 

 mensions. The young are funny-looking objects, and resemble 

 puffs of white down rather than nestlings. The parent attends 

 to its young with great assiduity, feeding it with the oleaginous 

 fluid which is secreted in such quantities by the digestive organs 

 of this bird. So large indeed is the amount of oil, that in some 

 parts of the world the natives make the Stormy Petrel into a 

 lamp, by the simple process of drawing a wick through its body. 

 The oil soon rises into the wick, and burns as freely as in any 



