70 Mr. D. A. Bannerman 07i an Ornithological 



dazed, and as often as not made no attempt to escape ; 

 others would waddle in the direction of the sea, continually- 

 catching their wings in bushes and stones and tumbling 

 about in the most grotesque manner. When thrown up 

 into the air some would immediately fly out to sea, while 

 others seemed to lose their power of flight and would come 

 down ^' plump "^ on to the rocksj and quickly waddle away 

 until they could gain a kdge from which to " push oW." 



The Sand in which the Shearwaters had burrowed on Mon- 

 tana Clara was much softer than that of Graciosa, and I was 

 thus able to excavate there with comparative ease. I found 

 the burrows very similar to rabbit-holes but a little larger ; 

 the entrances of several measured 6x11 inches and often 

 led 7 feet into the ground. The egg was usually deposited a 

 foot from the further end of the burrow. The passage was 

 generally Avinding and at times turned completely at right 

 angles. A few feathers and scraps of seaweed were some- 

 times found doing duty for a nest. 



In contrast to these long burrows I was often surprised to 

 find a bird sitting ''in broad daylight,''' having laid its egg 

 in an exposed crevice on the cliffside, not 12 inches from 

 the entrance, where, in the daytime, the rays of the sun 

 shone full upon it. If molested, the Shearwaters bit an;l 

 scratched with remarkable ferocity, inflicting severe wounds 

 with their formidable bills. As I finally left the breeding- 

 haunts of these Shearwaters on June the 14th, I did not find 

 a single nestling. Several fishermen, who knew their habits 

 remarkably well, told me that the " Pardelas,^^ as they call 

 them, arrived early in April " to clean their nests. '^ As I 

 proved for myself, nesting had become general on June the 

 1st and all the birds seemed to have laid. The young are 

 hatched early in July, and the fishermen start taking them 

 on August the 5 th /or eating purposes. Many hundreds are 

 taken again in September when the young are exceedingly 

 fat., but they are then boiled down for oil. The men assured 

 me that all the birds leave the island in November, young 

 and old together. In the island of Allegranza hundreds are 

 slaughtered for the sake of their feathers, which fetch quite 

 a good juice in Las Palmas. 



