THE LEACH'S PETREL 



363 



THREE ADUI/T PETREL IN HAND 



ground they are most awkward, their 

 very long wings, together with their 

 webbed feet, interfering with their prog- 

 ress. 



The night that I spent on the island 

 gave me a better opportunity of watch- 

 ing the habits of this bird than I could 

 have obtained in any other way. About 

 dusk I walked to a certain spot where I 

 knew there was a large number of their 

 burrows, and sat down on a rock to 

 await their return from sea. There were 

 burrows within four feet of where I sat, 

 and I speculated with much interest as to 

 what effect my close proximity would 

 have on the occupants when their mates 

 returned. 



About this time hundreds of gulls were 

 returning to the island for the night, and 

 before me, sitting on the rocks and fly- 

 ing in the air, w r ere thousands of them, 

 making the twilight hideous with their 

 continual screeching and crying. As 



soon as night settled down, they in turn 

 found roosting places on the rocks near 

 the shore, and their cries became more 

 and more faint, until at last the occa- 

 sional note of but one or two could be 

 heard, showing that nearly all the birds 

 were asleep ; then one faint cry and all 

 was still, and a death-like silence fell 

 upon the island. 



Hardly had I time to appreciate the 

 relief from the hours made hideous by 

 the noise of the gulls, when from far out 

 over the water there floated in a strange 

 note, which I knew at once must be that 

 of the petrel. Louder and louder this 

 note grew, until at last two birds flew 

 over my head, sailed around me, all the 

 time uttering their sharp, wild, and gut- 

 tural call. These two birds suddenly 

 disappeared in the darkness, shortly to 

 return with hundreds and hundreds of 

 their kind, until the whole night seemed' 

 alive with them, flying with bat-like mo- 



