the Tubinares in the North Atlantic Islands. 469 



on the 23rd of this mouth some of the birds on Baixo Is. were 

 found to have not yet laid. Nesting continues through 

 July and August, and Padre Schmitz has a note that he 

 obtained young-in-down as late as October 17 — an excep- 

 tionally late record. At the end of October the birds 

 disappear from the Madeira Group until the end of February. 



Breeding range in the Salvage Islands. 

 This is the particular home of the Yellow-billed Shear- 

 water, which constitutes thechief wealth of these uninhabited 

 rocky islets. According to Padre Schmitz over 20,000 of! 

 these unfortunate birds used to be taken year after year on 

 tlie Salvages, the men employed in this industry leaving 

 Madeira about the first week in September and returning 

 Avith their spoils at the end of November. Of recent years 

 the numbers have diminished by a few thousand, but enoi- 

 nious quantities, I undeivstand, are still taken annually. 

 Berthelot in 1841 and Bolle in 1857 give the catch as 

 80,000 in a good year, while in 1903 the numbers had 

 dropped to 17,000 according to Schmitz. M r. Ogilvie-Grant, 

 who spent six days there from April 24— 29^ found the birds 

 all paired, but not a single egg was discovered. The 

 breeding-time is given by Schmitz as May, June, aiid July; 

 by the end of May the majority have laid. Incubation lasts 

 just four weeks more or less, but long before the eggs are 

 laid the old birds are busy about their nest-holes. 



Breeding range in the Canary Islands. 



This species is by far the commonest of the Petrel family 

 in the Canary Islands. It probably breeds on all the 

 islands, but particularly on the outlying eastern islets of 

 Lobos, Graciosa, Montana Clara, and the East and West 

 Rocks. I have paid particular attention to the habits of 

 this Shearwater in the Canary Islands and published the 

 results in ' The Ibis,' 1912, p. 574 ; 1914, pp. G6-70 ; and 

 Bull. B. O. C. xxxiii. 1913, pp. 56, 57. 



Other well-known breeding-places in the islands are Gran 

 Canaria and the Anaga Rocks, off Tencrile. 



