236 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 
now and then just shearing it with their beaks, in play or 
in feeding. They make marks with them in the sand, deep 
and slightly curving, some nearly two inches long. What 
those hieroglyphics mean I cannot say. Possibly they find 
there some small sand worms. I never saw any swimming ; 
they appear to be as averse to it as the true Terns; but 
they settle on terra firma much more than they do. 
At night they are as active as by day. Occasionally you 
may see them raise their wings until they nearly touch over 
the back. The expanse is about 39 inches, but of course 
among many specimens there was a good deal of variation. 
Eye almost black; beak coral red at the base, shading off 
into light straw-yellow at the tip. I think the females have 
rather shorter beaks than the males. At the same time 
our shortest was a male according to Mr. Hughes’ dis- 
section. 
Von Heuglin says at the end of autumn these birds 
collect and travel in immense flocks (Syst Uebers, No. 
727)- 
%211. CINEREOUS SHEARWATER, Puffinus kuhli, Boie. 
This was the last bird I saw. It was about an hour after 
leaving Alexandria harbour, on the 20th of June, that the 
first was seen; afterwards I saw a good-sized flock or two. 
After my return to England, M. Filliponi obtained a speci- 
men. He writes that it was killed at the mouth of the 
river, a few miles north of Damietta, and that two fishermen 
who plied their trade at the place informed him that it was 
a scarce bird, but that one or two were seen every year 
in the autumn, that it always appeared at sundown, and 
that they called it Owm-Gournaya, which means hiding 
mother. 
