LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN PETRELS AND PELICANS. lOS 



The burrows are in great numbers on the hillsides from sea level up to 

 about 400 or 500 feet, and extend on an average four or five feet in the soft 

 soil tlie nesting chamber being sparingly lined with portions of tussock grass. 

 The burrow apparently^ always extends a little beyond the nesting chamber, 

 because, if a sitting bird were disturbed, it usually, got o,uf of reach by moving 

 further in. If a burrow b6 in use, a few blades of tussock grass 'will be 

 noticed ■ in the entrance. ' ' 



The birds generally go to sea at daylight, which, on account of the latitude, 

 occurs tliere about 2 o'clock in midsummer, retUirning about dusk -(10 p. m.) ; 

 but, just befpre laying season, usually two birds (presumably a, mated pair) 

 were fotind in the burrows during the day. , 



The call of the brown petrel, when flying, is a single whistle-like cry. In 

 the burrows they coo like prions, only of course, louder. 



The measurements of 7 eggs, furnished by Mr. Campbell, average 

 70.6 by 50.9 millimeters ; the eggs showing the four extremes meastire 

 71.5 by 51.4, 71.1 by 51.8, ©9.1 by 51.2 and 69.2 by 49.8 millimeters. 



Behavior. — Darwin (1889) relating his experience with this shear- 

 water on the cruise of the Beagle, writes : ' 



I do not think I ever saw so many birds of any sort together, as I once saw, 

 of these petrels behind the island of Chiloe.' Hundreds of thousands ' flew in 

 an irregular line for several hours in one direction. When part of the flobk 

 settled on the water, the surface was blackened ; and a cackling noise proceeded 

 from them as of human beings talking in the distance; . At this time the water 

 was in parts colored by clouds of small Crustacea. * * * At Port Famine, 

 every morning and evening, a long band of these birds continued to fly with 

 extreme rapidity up and down the central parts of the channel, close to the 

 surface of the water. Their flight was direct and vigorous, and they seldom 

 glided with extended wings in graceful curves, like 'most other members of 

 this family. Occasionally they settled for a short time on the watter ; and they 

 thus remained at rest during nearly the whole of the middle of the day. When 

 flying backwards and forwards at a distance from tjie shore, they evidently 

 were fishing, but it was rare to see them seize any prey. , Thjey were vpry wary, 

 and seldom approached within gun shot of a boat or of a ship, a dispositipn 

 strikingly different from that of inost of the other species, the stotnach of 

 one, killed near Port Famine, contained seven prawn-like crabs, and a small 

 fish. In another, killed off of the Plata, there was the beak of a small cuttlefish. 

 I observed that th^se birds, when only slightly winged, were incapable ot 

 diving. 



Captain Hutton (1865) says of its diving habits : 



This bird is by far the best diver of all the sea-going petrels. It seems even 

 fond of It, and often remains under water for several minutes, when it comes 

 up again shaking the water off its feathers like a dog. Sometimes I have seen 

 it, as it flies past, poise itself for a moment in the air (and hence perhaps its 

 name) at a height of about twenty or twenty-five feet above the sea, and; shut- 

 ting its wings, take a header into the Water. It dives with its wipgs open, and 

 uses them under water much in the same manner as when fly^ng. 



Captain Hutton (1865) observes tjbat "its cry is something like 

 the bleating of a lamb." He writes that " the young bird has l^een 



