LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN PETRELS AND PELICANS. 119 



and January 7, 1900. The parent birds were collected with the single 

 eggs in each case. The nests are described as made of " small sticks, 

 ferns, etc., in a burrow." The eggs are oval or elliptical oval in shape ; 

 the surface of the shell is smooth but lustreless and the color is dirty 

 Avhite. 



The measurements of eight eggs, in various collections, average 

 60.4 by 43.8 millimeters ; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 

 63 by 45.5, 56 by 43, and 57.5 by 41.5 millimeters. 



Young. — The nestling is described by Godman (1907) as "covered 

 with sooty-grey down, not perceptibly whiter below." The Park 

 Museum, in Providence, Ehode Island, kindly loaned me for study a 

 mounted specimen of the downy young of this species which came to 

 them in the Hardy collection. It was collected on Preservation Inlet, 

 presumably by the same Mr. Seymour, on March 14, 1898. It is prac- 

 tically fully grown and seems to be much bulkier than the adult ; the 

 wing-coverts are fully feathered with " slate colored " feathers and 

 the scapulars show large tracts of " plumbeous " feathers ; the face 

 and cheeks are feathered and mottled with black and white; and 

 under the down on the breast and belly many white feathers, broadly 

 tipped with "plumbeous," may be seen; otherwise the entire body, 

 including the crown of the head, is covered with long, soft, fluffy 

 down, " ecru-drab " or " drab-gray " in color, which is fairly uniform 

 and only slightly paler below. This specimen would seem to indicate 

 that the first plumage assumed by the young bird is similar to that of 

 the adult, as is the case with most of the petrels, but Buller (1888) 

 says: 



The bird of the first year differs from the adult in being generally darker In 

 plumage. The whole of the upper surface, the sides of the breast, the sides 

 of the body, flanks and abdomen, dark slaty-grey, the feathers very minutely 

 margined with paler. Chin pure white; lores, lower side of face, fore-neck, 

 breast, and under taU-coverts white, varied with slaty-grey, in freckled wavy 

 lines on the breast. All the medium wing-coverts are stained with brown ; the 

 inner webs of all tSie quills pure white, as also are the larger under wing- 

 coverts. 



The above statement that the feathers are " very minutelv margined 

 with paler " is further evidence that Mr. Brewster's scalaris is merely 

 an immature specimen of inexpectata. 



Behavior. — Very little is known about the habits of inexpectata, 

 but Godman (1907) gives us the following scanty facts in regard 

 to it: 



Peale says this fulmar was found among icebergs buffeting the storms and 

 fogs of the Antarctic regions. He saw but few examples, and only obtained 

 a single specimen, on March 21st, while the ship Peacock was enveloped in a 

 fog, in lat. 68° S., long. 95° W. It occurs in the New Zealand seas, and 

 Buller mentions many places whence he hadi received specimens ; among these 

 are the Spencer Mountains in the Province of Canterbury. Mr. Percy Seymour 



