HKV. 11. A. MArl'IllilWoN ON Tlltl .MANX SIIKAKW.U’EU. 
■ 22 \ 
tlieni.selves on dry laud during tlie day is so completely opposed to 
all the principles of their e.xi.stence, evolved during successive age.<, 
whilst the Shearwater was gradually becoming specialised from a 
more generalised ancestor, that they appear to be stupilied and 
dazed if handled or released in daylight, though they bite freely 
notwithstanding. Tliat they do occasionally fall down on a smooth 
surface, and remain skulking during the day, is certain. I found 
the remains of several which had thus perished, one of them 
having been recently plucked by a Hawk, probably by one of the 
lluzzards which fretpient the island. 
•Macleod, the man reputed to subsist on Shearwaters, volunteered 
that ho not unfre(iucntly obtained a bird for the pot, whilst it was 
lying helpless during the day, in the line of flight ])etween the sea 
and tlio largest colon}'. Xo one can carefully study the actions of 
the Shearwater on a Hat surface, where it carries its belly about 
half an inch above the ground, the legs being set very far back; 
or examine the anatomy of the genu.s, when skinning a bird, 
without recognising how imperfectly this species is adapted to 
progress terrestrially, ^loreover, as this species never visits tlie 
brc(> ling .stations during the day, hut remains at sea exclusively, it 
follows that it can only be very imperfectly acipiainted with the 
phenomena which pre.scnt themselves to its limited consciousnc.s.s, 
if stranded on dry land during the day. 1 do not, however, intend 
to suggest that the Shearwater remains for twenty hours out of 
twenty-four at sea every day in the week ; on the contrary, it 
is almost certain, that a bird which gorges so heavily would 
fre(|uently stay at home two nights and a day after a hearty meal. 
A young bird, sent to me last August, alive, arrived in perfect 
condition, though it had fasted thirty hours at least ; and as the 
skins of the males are well coated with a thick layer of hit, and the 
stomachs I have opened have been full of oil, there can be no reason 
to doubt that the Shearwater keeps fast-daj’s as well as feasts. 
The soft parts of sea birds are so frequently described from 
skin.s, that I venture to subjoin the following particulars, which 
apply both to adults and to downy nestlings (the webs dry j'ellow). 
I’^liper mandible black, grey at the base ; lower mandible grey, 
black at the point ; tarsus, in front and inside, pale grey ; outer 
surface banded with hldcJi, continued along the outside of the 
outer toe ; webs grey, tinged with blaekisli in the adult, with pink 
