220 
BIRDS OF THE BAHAMA ISLANDS. 
nately, I did not visit any of their breeding-places during the period 
of incubation, and am therefore unable to state anything regarding 
their breeding habits from personal experience. He says: — 
“ On making inquiries as to what sea birds breed on the keys, I 
was constantly told of a singular bird, with a hooked bill, that only 
flew during the night, and was known by the name of Pimblico. It 
proved to be the present, species. It is very abundant, being found 
on all the uninhabited keys near the channel which are not too 
frequently visited by wreckers or fishermen. They breed in holes 
in the rocks, as described in the ‘ Naturalist in Bermuda.’ Near 
Nassau, at the Ship Channel Keys, where I first met with them, 
incubation had already commenced by the 24th of March. The 
nest consists of a few dry twigs, is always placed in a hole or under 
a projecting portion of the rock, seldom more than a foot from the 
surface, and never, as far as my experience goes, out of reach of 
the hand. On being caught, they make no noise, and do not resist 
at all, — unlike the Tropic Bird, which fights manfully, biting and 
screaming with all its might. The egg does not seem to me to 
resemble an ordinary hen’s egg ; the shell is much more fragile and 
more highly polished. I broke a number of them in endeavoring 
to remove the bird from the nest. They vary a good deal in size 
and form, some of them being quite rounded, and others elongated. 
Three of them measured as follows: one .059 by .036, another .052 
by .033, and the third .051 by .037. Both sexes incubate. 
“ Why these birds and the Stormy Petrels never enter or leave 
their holes in the daytime is one of the mysteries of nature ; both 
