PETRELS. 257 



coo-roo, uttered two or three times in succession, 

 and then a pause. So far as I could determine, this 

 note is never uttered by the bird at sea, only when 

 flying about its breeding station, or in or near its 

 burrow, and is only heard at night. At St. Kilda 

 the island of Soay is the grand breeding place of 

 this Shearwater. The St. Kildans visit this island 

 at times during the breeding season, going at night, 

 knocking down the birds as they flutter about, and 

 dragging others from their nests. Four hundred 

 Shearwaters are sometimes slain thus in a single 

 night. 



The Manx Shearwater is a somewhat late breeder, 

 its eggs being laid towards the end of May, or 

 during the first half of June. There are no known 

 breeding places of this bird along the eastern coast 

 line of Scotland and England ; nor have any yet 

 been discovered on the south coast of England, 

 although I am positive the species nests in the 

 South Hams of Devon. Its breeding area, so far 

 as it is known, is almost precisely the same as that 

 of the Stormy Petrel. Its favourite nesting-places 

 are islands with a good ocean aspect, covered with 

 turf and soft, loamy soil. Although gregarious 

 during this period, many scattered pairs breed here 

 and there along the coast. The bird probably pairs 

 for life, returning year by year to a favourite 

 nesting- place. It usually excavates a long and 

 often winding burrow, making a slight nest of dry 

 grass at the end, on which is laid a single white 



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