414 - THE ZOOLOGIST. . ... 



Bulwer's Petrel (Bulweria bulweri), a common bird in the 

 Madeira and Canary seas. We were too early for their eggs, but 

 obtained one taken at Porto Santo in the month of June. The 

 call of this bird is very fine, and was frequently heard at night, a 

 pleasant contrast to the harsh voices of the Great Shearwaters. 

 It consists of four higher notes and a lower, more prolonged 

 note, the whole repeated several times, and uttered in a loud, 

 cheerful strain. 



A few pairs of Kestrels and Short-eared Owls were evidently 

 breeding, and we used to see them every day quartering the 

 ground in search of their prey, and it pleased us to think that at 

 least some check was being put on the Petrel-destroyers. About 

 a dozen pairs of the Yellow-legged Herring Gull (Larus cachin- 

 nans) had nests about the rocky points, but we only found one 

 with eggs, and these were on the point of hatching ; the other 

 nests were either empty or contained downy young. These too 

 had their enemies of some sort, for a nest which contained three 

 young the day we found it, had only one remaining a few days 

 later. This may have been the work of other Gulls, but we 

 could not help suspecting the great hook-billed Pardellas of 

 being the culprits ; for hundreds of them used to come out of the 

 rocks, or leave their stone houses on the top of the island just 

 before sunset, and fly rather low all over the stony plateau, 

 making the beautiful evening hideous with their incessant cries of 

 ia-gow-a-gow-a-gow ; they certainly appeared to be in search of 

 food of some sort, but we had no means of proving our sus- 

 picions. 



One of the most numerous, as well as the tamest, of small 

 birds on Great Salvage was the Berthelot's Pipit, which is 

 common at Madeira, Porto Santo, and the Canaries. These little 

 birds were our constant companions, and one or two of them 

 were almost always to be seen running about among the stones 

 and ice-plants, generally within a few yards of one's feet. When 

 we arrived at Great Salvage they had not begun to breed, and 

 were generally met with in small companies of three or more ; 

 but on the last days of our visit we noted that many had 

 evidently paired, and one or two birds were seen going about with 

 nesting materials in their bills, so the breeding season must have 

 been just commencing. They apparently rear a second brood in 

 the autumn, for several of the birds we shot were in the freshly 



