. The water birds of North America [microform]. Birds; Water-birds; Oiseaux; Oiseaux aquatiques. I r PI 378 THE TUUE-NOSEI) SVVIMMEUS — some writers, has been given by others to entirely ditr*>rent species. In speaking of one we are liable to quote accounts of habits or resulence that belong to another. This species is of rare anil even doubtful occurrence in the United States. Mr. E. L. Layard (" Ibis," 1863) mentions procuring the eggs of what I presume to be this species, on islands north of Mauritius. The birds were breeding in holes in the cliffs. Tlieir eggs are
. The water birds of North America [microform]. Birds; Water-birds; Oiseaux; Oiseaux aquatiques. I r PI 378 THE TUUE-NOSEI) SVVIMMEUS — some writers, has been given by others to entirely ditr*>rent species. In speaking of one we are liable to quote accounts of habits or resulence that belong to another. This species is of rare anil even doubtful occurrence in the United States. Mr. E. L. Layard (" Ibis," 1863) mentions procuring the eggs of what I presume to be this species, on islands north of Mauritius. The birds were breeding in holes in the cliffs. Tlieir eggs are said to liave measured inches in lergth and in breadth, and their color to be of a dull white. This species, referred to as P. rlne- reus, is stated to have been met with by Mr. T. L. Powys among the Ionian Islands. Mr. C. A. Wright, in his Notes on the Birds of Malta ("Ibis," 1864), speaks of it as resident and breeding on the southern coast of Malta and Gozo, and also on the small islands of Filfa and Comino. It is said to lay a single unspotted egg of pure Avhite, rather large, and to deposit it on the bare ground, in a crevice, or under a fragment of rock. While it is sitting on its egg it allows itself to be taken. Avithout making any attempt to escape, merely snapping with its strong sharp bill. Both the old and the young birds, when handled, are apt to eject, in a very disagreeable manner, a greenish fluid formed by their feeding on the Liula crithmoides, one of the few plants which grow on those rocky islets. Lieutenant Sperling also mentions finding these birds breeding in considerable numbers among the rocks of a small precipitous uninhabited island near Malta. He also noticed them at sea sitting on the water, where they were easily approached. Mr. Godman met with this species in all the archipelagoes of Madeira and the Canaries, and thinks that it must breed on the Desertas or some of the neighbor- ing islands, as he saw it there in the month of
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1884
