SCIENTIFIC SUMMAKY. 
335 
these broken ledges afforded a partial support, though extending over more 
than half their width. The lines of nests exactly followed the winding 
projections of these ledges everywhere, giving a very singular appearance to 
the cliff, especially when the white birds were sitting on them. The nests 
were built with dry grass, agglutinated together and to the rock in some 
unexplained manner ; perhaps by a mucus secreted by the bird for the pur- 
pose. The nests had a very shallow depression at the top, in which lay 
two eggs. The whole establishment had an intolerable odour of guano, and 
the nests were very filthy. The birds hardly moved at our approach, only 
those within a few yards leaving their posts. I reached up and took down 
two nests, one containing two young birds, and the other empty. Wind 
coming up, we were obliged to pull away, and the bird, which came back, 
lighted on the rock where her nest and young had been, with evident astonish- 
ment at the mysterious disappearance. After flying about a little, she again 
settled on the spot, and suddenly making up her mind that foul play on the 
part of some other bird had taken place, she commenced a furious assault 
on her nearest neighbour. As we pulled away, the little fellows began to 
be affected yb the motion of the boat, and with the most ludicrous expres- 
sion of nausea, imitating as closely as a bird could do the motions and ex- 
pressions of a sea-sick person, they very soon deposited their dinner on the 
edge of the nest. It was composed of small fishes or minnows, too much 
disorganised to be identified. Eggs, in a moderately fresh condition, were 
obtained about the same time, but most of them were far advanced toward 
hatching. These birds are very curious, and scouts are always seen coming 
from a flock of them when a boat or other unusual object approaches. These 
scouts very soon return to the flock if not molested, and the whole flock 
then proceeds to investigate the phenomenon. 
Cuttle-Jish . — The following few memoranda may be acceptable in reference 
to the u Cuttle-fish ” paper of April last. They are sent to us by Major- 
General Nelson, of Stoke, Devonport : — u On my way to Bermuda, 1827, 
the crew caught a shark of some size ; in its stomach we found a portion of 
the arm of a creature of this description ; but whether Poulpe, &c. &c., 
I was not then able to determine. The said 1 portion ’ was about 4 feet 
long, 4 inches in diameter at one end, and 3 inches at the other. Both ends 
were sharply cut off; and there was no appearance of decomposition by 
digestion, which might lead to the supposition that the locket-shaped ap- 
pendages were suckers deformed by that process. I have a small carefully- 
sketched Sepioteuthis, done some time afterwards, the suckers of which 
agree very well in form with those shown in the Plate, p. 122. 
u As well as I can now remember, these locket- or heart-shaped processes 
were about 1§" long, and hung by means of a short neck, some 3 or 4 inches 
from the arm ; the substance of this last being of the usual greyish-white 
matter, reminding one of the Am2-boiled albumen of a duck’s egg, as far as 
colour is concerned. 
u The movements of the above-mentioned Sepioteuthis are wonderfully 
fleet, as it flits among the coral-reefs, just touching the white sand with the 
end of an arm; and then, on alarm, discharging a cloud of sepia, and, 
under cover thereof dodging back in quite an opposite direction, with the 
quickness of lightning. 
