14 THE O. & O. SEMI-ANNUAL. 
The island was covered with a rich growth of grass and weeds, 
two feet in-heighth, to within about six feet of the edge of the 
rocks, and on this clear space around the edge of the island, I 
found the nests. ‘They were composed of a little dried grass, laid 
in a small depression on the rocks, no attempt being made at con- 
cealment. All the nests were placed where the sun could assist 
in the work of incubation. 
In going back to the boat, I saw on the edge of the bank some 
queer-looking holes, greatly resembling those of the Bank Swal- 
low, but about twice as large. I put my hand into one of these 
holes about eighteen inches and felt something very much like 
feathers. I drew it out and found I had a species of Petrel. Upon 
examination, I found it the Leach’s. 
Letting the bird go, I put my hand into the hole again and 
found an egg almost buried in the soft, fine dirt, of which the 
bank was composed. It was chalky-white, with a very fine ring 
of purplish-red spots around the large end; was a fine specimen 
and measured .89x1.24. I was very much pleased with my find, 
and in about an hour I had fifteen sets of their eggs. Some of 
them were pure white; others had a ring of spots quite distinct, 
but on most of them the spots were very faint. 
In size they averaged about .89x1.24. The number of eggs in 
a set was always one, and I invariably found the bird at home. 
Sometimes by the time I got into where the nest was, I found 
the bird off the nest, but she would always be in the hole. 
Sometimes [ could put my hand under the bird and remoye the 
ege, but as a general thing I had to remove the bird first, and feel 
around in the dirt for the egg. In one instance I found young, 
but some of the eggs were badly incubated. 
The birds appeared to be quite torpid when taken out. I gave. 
some of them a toss into the air and they would fall to the ground 
and not make an eftort to fly, but would attempt to hide them- 
selves among the grass and underbrush. 
As I did not see any of the birds around, I think they stay at 
home during the day and take their exercise at night. 
The burrows were made in all directions, some very near 
straight, while others were very crooked. In depth, they aver- 
aged about two feet. There was not much.of a nest in any of 
