7 
Birds of Kerguelen Island . 
It pecked at some hard biscuit; but could do nothing with it; 
then I blew out a scrap or two from my mouth; but the noise 
seemed strange to the bird and it retreated; soon it came 
back; tried one of the scraps, but did not swallow it; next 
it attacked my boot; but left immediately and again tried 
the scrap of biscuit; after which; with one or two close looks 
into my face, it walked away. These typical acts of inquisi¬ 
tiveness lasted from 10 to 15 minutes. A sudden meeting 
with a few of these birds does not seem to frighten them. I 
surprised 12 of them at one time; but they simply gathered 
round me. Tf I moved my legs, the birds quivered a little, 
but immediately recovered themselves. A Sheathbill does 
not indulge in eight hours’ consecutive sleep, as I judge by 
having had one staring into my face in the early hours of 
the morning, for at least an hour, it seemed to me, while 
camped beneath a rock. This bird is knowing enough to 
put its own eggs under cover, and will either get well into 
the rock-crevices or use a burrow made by one of the larger 
Petrels, if one is to be found close against a great boulder. 
The eggs, which vary, are always exposed to the light near 
the entrance, and are deeply coloured. As soon as the 
sitting parent hears a noise near the nest it jumps oft to see 
what is the matter, and just as quickly does the young one 
get away from the nest into some hiding-place. This 
accounts for seeing so many empty nests in February. 
The nest is circular, neatly made of seaw r eed, or sometimes 
grasses, if grass be near. One nest, made of roots of Azorella, 
was placed 30 inches down in a Petrel’s tunnel, some 7-10 
inches from the house-path of nearly every nest. The pair 
referred to previously chose a mile of beach without large 
rocks, consequently they used a Petrel’s earthy nest in the 
cliff—the only one like this in a dozen nests found by me. 
My first find of eggs, three in number, was on the 29th 
of December, but eggs were mostly fresh until the 27th of 
January; on February 13th the eggs had well-developed 
embryos. I found the first young one on January 29th, 
in one of some 20 nests observed on Hog Island, in 
Poyal Sound. This nestling was bluish, intermixed with 
brown down; legs and feet bluish; nails black; bill dark 
