7746 Birds. 



any down. I found some containing fresh eggs, and others that had 

 just been finished after the middle of July, and many birds had 

 already hatched their brood by the 1st; it is probable that others had 

 made at least three nests that season. Audubon states that the eggs 

 are deposited on the grass, &c., of which the nest is principally com- 

 posed. I did not see an instance, where there was any down, that 

 this was the case. Nearly every day, during the first week or two, I 

 found nests containing one, two, three or more freshly laid eggs, lying 

 on a bed of down so exquisitely soft and warm that, in that almost 

 painfully barren and frigid region, it was the ideal of comfort, almost 

 of beauty. When the bird leaves her nest without being suddenly 

 disturbed, I believe the eggs are generally covered with down, always 

 so after the full complement has been laid. The largest number of 

 eggs found b}^ me in a nest was six, and this in so many instances 

 that I am inclined to think it the normal number ; in colour they 

 present two varieties, one of a pale greenish olive or oil-green, and the 

 other a brownish or true olive ; the former are frequently marked with 

 large spots or splashes of the same colour of much greater intensity ; 

 the latter are invariably unspotted. After the eggs have been incubated 

 for some time, they are always more or less scratched and marked, 

 probably by the claws of the bird while sitting on them or rolling 

 them over. In shape they present little variety, being always nearly 

 oval ; the diameter is considerable. In size the difference is perhaps 

 less than in the majority of birds. 



Gannet [Sula hassana). The northerly or highest half of the sum- 

 mit of Gannet Rock, and all the ledges on its sides of sufficient width, 

 the whole upper part of the pillar-like portion of the Little Bird, and 

 the greater part of the remaining portion of this rock, were covered 

 with the nests of the gannet at the time of my visit. On the ledges 

 the nests were arranged in single lines nearly or quite touching one 

 another ; on the summit, at regular distances one from the other of 

 about three feet. Those on the ledges were built entirely of sea-weed 

 and other floating substances ; on the summit of the rock they were 

 raised on cones, formed of earth or small stones, about ten inches in 

 height and eighteen in diameter when first constructed, presenting, at 

 a short distance, the appearance of a well-hilled potato field. I saw 

 no nests built of Zostera, or grass, or sods; the materials were almost 

 entirely Fuci, though anything available was probably used ; in one 

 case the whole nest was composed of straw, and in another the greater 

 part of Manilla rope-yarn. 



The nests on the summit of the Great Bird were never scattered, 



