The Fork-Tailed Petrel. 2I 5 



of the area of which their strong-beaked neighbours have chief possession. The 

 braes which are riddled with the tunnels of the Fork-tailed Petrels are composed 

 of more peaty earth than the soil which the Puffins prefer, and are less abundantly 

 clothed with growing herbage. The burrows vary in length from an arm's length 

 to four or five feet. I believe that they are in great part excavated by the feet 

 of the bird, which scrape away the loose soil dislodged by the mandibles. Half-a- 

 dozen burrows are sometimes placed together within a few yards space. When I 

 visited the Dune in 1896, for the purpose of obtaining a Petrel's nest for the Carlisle 

 Museum, we failed to find any Petrels on the lower slopes ; but my friend, the 

 Rev. T. P. Hartley, had hardly reached the summit before his eye was arrested by a 

 small patch of white. It proved to be the white rump of a Fork-tailed Petrel 

 which was sitting in her subterranean nest, more open to the sky than is usual. 

 It was interesting to see this beautiful bird freshly drawn forth from her hiding- 

 place among the rocks. The beautiful blue gloss of her feathers far exceeded 

 that of any of the autumn-killed birds which I had handled previously. The 

 exquisite curve of the head and shoulders of this Petrel combined with the soft 

 glance of her dark brown irides, to confer a rare charm on the little sea-bird so 

 unceremoniously ushered into the dazzling light of noonday. Like most Petrels, 

 the captive squirted up a supply of pure oil. 



The single white egg of this Petrel is deposited at the end of the bird's 

 burrow upon stems of dry grass, some eggs are laid upon the bare mould, but 

 this is exceptional. The egg of the Fork-tailed Petrel measures about one inch 

 and three lines. I procured a series of eggs for the Carlisle Museum from St. 

 Kilda ; these have the white surface varied with rusty red spots, which tend to 

 become obsolete in the cabinet. The Fork-tailed Petrel commences to lay in the 

 month of June, but fresh eggs are taken in July ; it is probably the end of 

 August before the young bird embarks upon a sea-faring life. Both sexes per- 

 form the duties of incubation, and the sitting bird is fed as I believe, by its 

 mate which wanders far over the ocean in pursuit of its subsistence. 



During the dav the Fork-tailed Petrels remain silent in their retreats ; but 

 as evening approaches they become much more animated, and twitter loudly to 

 their companions coming off the sea. The St. Kilda fowlers search for the Fork- 

 tailed Petrels in the gloaming, being confident that the cries of the birds beneath 

 their feet will be sure to betray their whereabouts. I have tried repeatedly to 

 render the notes of this Petrel upon paper, but the task is a difficult one. 

 Audubon compares it to the syllables " Pewr-wit," twice repeated in succession. 

 This Petrel possesses the musky odour referred to in my account of the Storm 

 Petrel. Mr. John Swinburn alludes to this apropos of the colony of Fork-tailed 



