TIIK MANX SHEARWATER. 
8(;5 
The burrows are dug in the dry crumbling soil of the steep 
cliffs, varying from eighteen inches to two feet in depth, or even 
more, and are so narrow that the introduction of the hand is a 
matter of some difficulty when the hole happens to be new, 
and therefore but little worn by the passage of the bird. A 
fresh hole is not necessarily dug every season, the old ones 
being often made to serve again. To look at, the bill would not 
seem to be very well adapted for digging, but still it answers 
the purpose, possessing more strength than the observer would 
at first sight imagine. The hooked point is very hard and 
sharp, as a certain scar on one of my hands can testify ; and 
the edges of the mandible, too, are very keen, and have more 
than once drawn blood from my fingers. The sand is scraped 
out in sufficient quantity to form a considerable heap at the 
entrance, and very slight disturbance of the heap will cause 
desertion. Indeed, the Lyrie is not at all a bird that will bear 
to be much interfered with. It is almost certain to forsake 
the nest if it be taken out, even though it will return for the 
moment, creeping back into the hole after a little uncertain 
fluttering, seemingly quite bewildered when tossed up in the 
air. 
The first eggs are usually laid in the early part of May ; 
others will be found in a fresh state about the middle or end 
of June. In most cases something of a nest is made with 
pieces of dead plants or hay, but sometimes the bare soil is 
thought sufficient. It now and then happens that the nest is 
made far back in the deep crevice of a rock. Some have 
asserted that the Shearwater lays only once in the season, but 
my own observations lead me to the conclusion that a second 
laying does take place; the bird, however, not producing a new 
egg — it lays but one — immediately on being robbed of the 
first, but waiting until the regular time, some weeks later, 
when it will either use the old burrow, to which it has returned 
occasionally in the interval, or will dig a new one. After the 
egg has been taken, the bird will often remain in the nest 
for several days before finally resolving to quit. The young 
