The Nesting of the Storm Petrel 



island with a singular clearness. On the way to the island 

 where we intended to camp we called at a smaller island — 

 also much resorted to by petrels — but for long were unable 

 to discover any traces of the birds. Ultimately two storm 

 petrels were found, brooding on newly laid eggs, while a 

 third bird was evidently about to lay. The nesting ground 

 was beneath the ruins of an old fortified castle, and the birds 

 were hidden away among the heaps of stones of various sizes 

 which had fallen from the rock above as the castle gradually 

 crumbled. Generally the nesting site is far down among the 

 loose stones — ^some of the eggs we subsequently found were 

 two feet below the surface level — but to-day one of the birds 

 was in so exposed a position that her tail could be seen, 

 without disturbing a single stone, as she brooded her one 

 6&&* I" the two "nests " — if such they may be called — which 

 we examined, the single round white egg was laid on the bare 

 ground without any kind of nesting material ; but in certain 

 nests we found subsequently the egg reposed on a layer of 

 dried grasses, though it looked as if the latter might have 

 been there by accident, having perhaps been blown into the 

 hollow by winter storms. The parent birds, probably dazed 

 by the brilliant sunshine after the twilight of their nesting 

 sites, showed little disposition to fly, and even when placed 

 in the hand remained there in a dazed state. One of the illus- 

 trations shows a storm petrel standing beside her ^gg, and 

 gives a fairly accurate impression of the nesting ground. 

 When they did take wing, the birds flew out to sea with 

 graceful, swallow-like flight. 



Leaving this small island in mid-afternoon, we soon 

 reached the larger island, and before sunset pitched our tent 

 on a grassy slope just above high-water mark. Near the 

 centre of the island is a small hill, and from there that evening 

 we watched the sun sink behind the hills of South Uist at 

 exactly twenty-two minutes past ten. 



So far we had seen or heard nothing of the birds we hoped 

 to study, and it was not until the following afternoon that we 



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