Notes on Some Birds of Grand 
Manan. 
EDITED BY F. II. CARPENTER. 
Leach’s Petrel, (Oceanodroma leucorkoa). 
This species we found breeding by thousands 
on Wood's and the White Horse Islands. A 
few pairs remain on Low Duck. The island of 
the White Horse is completely honey-combed, 
as are tracts on Wood’s by their burrows which 
extend from seven or eight inches to two feet in 
length, taking all sorts of courses and often 
crossing and bisecting the passage of other 
pairs. The consistency of the loam is a damp 
fertile mold which enables the bird not only to 
excavate without difficulty but renders the bur¬ 
rows proof against cave-ius from a natural 
cause. At the end of the burrow is a thin lin¬ 
ing of dry reeds, straw or twigs on which the 
single egg is placed. We usually made an en¬ 
trance by running in the arm to the elbow and 
then raising up and the nest was usually reach¬ 
ed by the second time if not the first, though in 
a few cases we were obliged to work some time, 
often running off the scent into deserted cav¬ 
ities ere we struck the right one. The birds 
when set free by a starting toss into the air 
took a direct course out over the water and 
were soon out of sight, but if not thus aided 
they waddled about in the grass trying to hide 
their heads in a very stupid manner. 
The eggs are exceedingly brittle and require 
a month’s sitting to hatch. The young are fed 
during the night, and though the parents swarm 
forth by thousands at this time in search of 
food for their progeny, they never seemed to 
mistake their home for that of another on 
their return; still to the human eye their bur¬ 
rows are as similar to each other as the borings 
of an auger and it seemed hardly possible that 
distinction could be made. The tracts inhab¬ 
ited are permeated with the odor of the birds 
which can be felt by delicate olfactory nerves 
a long way out to sea. 
O & O. XII. Oct. 1887 p./7-l-J 
7 * 
