30 
Mr. R. Hall on the 
the nest has usually a few or many stalks of coarse seaweed 
in it, and in the centre several fresh stems of limp grass 
( Cotula ), picked off for the purpose. Throughout January 
the eggs were fresh, and only two or three in thirty were 
much developed. In one nest I found two eggs: one was 
decomposed inside, caked with damp earth on the shell, and 
partly hidden in roots; the other was 3 inches away, with 
the sitting bird upon it (February 14th). 
Once only did I notice an egg placed at the entrance of 
the tunnel. This was on January 26th, and it was fresh 
inside, but showed a little age outside. A Skua would 
probably have taken it, but for the environment of weathered 
shells, and I feel surprised that the Skua was outwitted. 
These eggs vary from clear white when fresh to a uniform 
dirty loam when hard-set. In one case a zone of deep 
brown encircled the egg, leaving the poles clear. In another 
several green blotches were at one end, as if caused 
by the succulent grass. A third egg was uniformly smudged 
with brown over a white base. I consider that all these 
eggs had originally a clear white ground-colour. The 
measurements ranged from 0'85 x 0*4 inch to 1 x 0*4. 
In most characters my seven examples agree with the 
descriptions of authorities, but I find that the posterior 
lamellae are visible when the bill is closed upon a profile- 
view ; while, in the living bird, a small portion of the nail 
is sometimes pale yellow; this area is a little longer than 
broad (December 27th). 
Pelecanoides exsul Salvin, Cat. B. xxv. p. 438. 
Pelecanoides urinatrix Coues & Kidder, and others. 
We occasionally saw small flocks of this Petrel in Royal 
Sound and Greenland Harbour, and at first we thought 
they were ducklings off shore. By exposing the ship’s light 
on a dark night the specimens obtained were attracted on 
board. One I released, when it fluttered some 50 yards, 
then dived, and we saw it no more. A female came on the 
deck in the dark hours with its white feathers dirty to their 
bases. 
