846 
BIRD-LIFE. 
the ground, immediately waddle off to her charge, 
rearrange the down, and resume her seat as before. 
Those, even, which showed symptoms of shyness by 
flying off to the sea did not remain long away, but soon 
returned to their nests again. I remarked one thing, and 
that was that those females which were disturbed from 
the nest always soiled their eggs with excrement as they 
rose, while the eggs of those birds which remained quietly 
seated were uncontaminated. 
The female only takes a hasty leave of her nest for the 
purpose of feeding, and then she always carefully covers 
the eggs with the wreath of down, thus keeping them 
warm and sheltered during her absence. The sea, 
in the neighbourhood of the nest, however, is so 
rich in shell-fish that she returns in a quarter or, 
at the outside, in half an hour to her charge, and, 
as soon as she has dried and preened her feathers, she 
recommences sitting. 
The habits of the males during the breeding season 
differ widely from those of the females. The former 
rarely go ashore with their spouses, but rather collect 
together in large flocks and sport amongst themselves. 
One cannot exactly say they are shy,—at all events, not 
in comparison with their conduct at other seasons of the 
year,—but for all this they always keep out of reach of 
man. Some few males go on land with their mates, and 
keep watch by the nest. If one approaches them they 
move about uneasily, hold up their heads and snarl, 
though they do not dare to attack the intruder. These 
are, however, exceptional cases; the mass of males 
remaining at sea, and forming round the island a wreath, 
which looks as though woven of the most beautiful roses, 
so brilliant do the rich colours of these birds appear in 
