UEV, II. A. MACl’HEKSON ON THE MANX SHEARWATER. 455 
III. 
ADDITIONAL NOTES ON THE MANX SHEARWATER. 
Ry IIev. H. a. M.vci’Herson, M.A. 
Read 2 'jth March, 1888 . 
I UNDERSTAND froMi Mr. E. Ridwell, that Mr. J. H. Gurnoy, Jim., 
proposes to close our joint account of the nesting habits of the 
]\Ian.x Shearwater. 1 am therefore anxious to supplement my 
former paper with a few brief observations. 
(1) I have no doubt tliat the Eigg colony is decreasing, owing 
to human agency. When visiting the precipitous cliffs at Cleardale 
on July 15th, 188i3, I ascertained that most of the nests that 
could be reached without a rope had already been robbed. The 
islanders not only take the eggs, but they often kill the nesting 
birds as well. A search of several hours only yielded a single 
young Shearwater, and that in such an emaciated condition that it 
died in my hand a few minutes after being extricated from its nest. 
Clearly the old birds had been killed, and the young one perished 
of hunger. The specimen was placed in spirits, that its anatomy 
might be described by my friend Professor Parker. 
(2) I wish to point out that while a young chick, obtained in 
1885, was covered on the belly with grey down, encircled with a 
zone of white, the chick of 188G had the entire under-surface 
pure wdiite. This last consequently agreed with the late 
Mr. Mitchell’s Cornish specimens of jmung (Saunders’ Yarrell, 
vol. iv. p. 24).* 
(3) I should like to repeat here the view which I expressed to 
Jlr. Howard Saunders some two years ago, that the Malaga bird 
*A nestling from Orkney, marked August 5th, is covered with greyish 
down, with a broad but faint white stripe along the centre of the throat, 
breast, and belly. — J. II. G., Jun. 
