IIKV. 11. A. .M.VCl-lItlt.SuN OX THE MANX .■SllEAUWATEl!. 
1’17 
lit fiiicc l)c oljvion.s. In some imstaiices, I found that a burrow had 
been disused since the preceding season, when a nestling liad 
liatched out, as testified by the broken egg-shells interspersed with 
the nest lining. It has been said, and doubtless correctly, that the 
Shearwater occasionally deposits its one white egg upon the hare 
soil ; but, in all the nests I examined, a .slight depression about 
ten inches from the eml of the burrow (often round a shoulder of 
earth) contained about a saucerful of dried bracken, bents and dead 
leaves, forming a comfortaI)le, though .scanty bed for the downy 
nestling. 
As we scrambled along the lower portions of the clilf, we found 
a number of nests, with varying results. ^lost were empty, but 
one licld an egg without a tenant ; another would yield a couple of 
birds, })iit no egg. Sub-setpiently, pursuing the coast line nortb, 
my guiile pointed out to me scveiiil liraes covered by line turf, 
in which he knew the .Shearwater to breed ; and clambering 
continuoiusly, we placed them under examination. The soil here 
becoming scanty, and loose rocks abounding, the burrows were 
“runs” rather than tunnels, and it was dillicult to arrive at their 
termination ; since, like all the other burrows, they wound directly 
from left to right, or rice versa. Standing on tiptoe, for there was 
only a slight projection on which to rest even one foot (my gilly 
supported me from the side, Avherc he had a linn footing), and 
inserting my left arm, I felt the bill of a nestling tenderly caressing 
the tips of my linger.s. After enlarging the entrance, again 1 
made a plunge into the interior, drawing out a line downy bird, 
about three days old (July ‘2nd), rrevious to this, on June JUth, 
a native, named Hugh Kate, had conducted me by a sheep track 
to the grassy slopes on the north-east side of the island, where he 
thought that the nests had been less disturbed than on the west. 
As we ascended the lower clilTs, we had a fine view of the bright 
green and steep braes, Avhich, strewn bj' splinters of weathered 
rock, and dotted here and there by bracken and luxuriant tufts of 
Lady Fern, descended rapidly to the shore, ilistant from the 
Shearwaters’ nests, perhaps, a cpiarter of a mile. Here, upon 
the usual shelves of turf, sprinkled with clover, red and white, 
and tall heather, there were many .Shearwaters’ nests, though most 
of them had been already robbeJ, a turf being often cut out above 
the extremity of the burmw. 
