UEV. II. A. MACPIIEIISUN ON THE MANX SIIEAIIWATEII. 
in tlio nestling ; iridos dark brown ; interior of mouth pale grey, 
upper surface of the downy nestling is a delicate fleecy grey, which 
dries a browner shade ; the throat and breast are white, and this 
colour forms an oval rimj upon the belly (as observed in the 
two nestlings I captured in situ ) ; this white ring (lost of course 
in the skin) encloses a patch of grey down upon the abdomen. 
The first nestling I skinned was full of oil, like the adults ; the 
ovary of one of the latter containing a cluster of small eggs on 
J line 30th. The older downy nestling lived for several days in my 
pocket, on coddiver oil j it was restless at night, and often uttered 
a little cry, but during the day was content to remain like a ball of 
down in its extemporised nest, its head buried in the down. 
In August, I received two nestlings in first feather, saved from 
the pot.* In these, the upper parts are of a uniform brownish 
black, decidedly deeper than the adult during the breeding season ; , 
tlie throat, breast, and lower parts are white, but not so pure as in 
adults, some of the feathers of the breast and flanks being tipped 
or edged with grey. The down leaves the back and wings first ; 
the most advanced of my two specimens only exhibiting a single 
tuft of down between the legs. 
The following brief extract from my notes may serve as an illustra- 
tion of my views as to the partially diurnal habits of this Shearwater, 
which on other occasions I have observed resting on the waves. 
“July 3rd. Off the Sound of Eigg, three p.m. A small flock 
of Shearwaters appear, — about two miles from laud, — and fly 
to and fro like restless spirits, now shooting sideways to display 
their long black wings against the waters, at the next moment 
showing their wliite bellies liy way of contrast, constantly 
skimming over the waves with great velocity, Hying in company ; 
but followed at a little distance by one or two stragglers.” 
* The following passage from Capt. J. Smith’s (?) ‘IIistor 3 ’e of the 
Bermudaes’ (reprinted, Hakluyt Society, 1882) refers to the Dusky Shearwater 
and though this Shearwater is nearly extinct in that locality, it affords a 
curious parallel to the Hebridean taste for cooked Shearwaters : — “ For the 
cahowe (for so sounds his voice) it is a night bird [evidently much more 
nocturnal than the Manx Shearwater], and all the da 3 'elong lies hid in holes 
of the rock-s, whence both themselves and their young are in great numbers 
extracted with great ease, and prove (especial^' the 3 'oung) so pleasinge in a 
dish, as ashamed I am to tell how many dozens of them have been devored 
by some one of our northern stomacks, oven at one only meale.” 
