_Nesting._--The Dusky Shearwater in Micronesia nests in holes on
high, and usually isolated, coral cliffs. Owston's collectors,
according to Hartert (1900:10), found a nest with one egg at Truk
on June 16. The nest was in a hole four feet deep in the side of a
cliff. The egg is white and measures 42 × 35. Yamashina (1932a:408)
records the taking of one egg at Arakabesan, Palau Islands, on May
26. Coultas (field notes) gives an interesting account of nesting
activities of this shearwater at the Palau Islands. He found the
bird nesting on small islands of the group from October to
December, 1931; however, he states that the natives told him that
the bird nests throughout the year. Land crabs and shearwaters were
often found together in the same burrow. Apparently the adult birds
did not remain in the burrow with the young during the day. At
Kusaie, Coultas was told by the natives that the adult birds were
caught by tying the mandibles of the young together. When the
parent birds approached and hovered over the young birds expecting
their mouths to open, the natives had the opportunity to strike
them down with clubs. Coultas collected six downy nestlings at
Palau in November and December.
_Remarks._--The first published account of this shearwater in Micronesia
was apparently by Kittlitz (1858, pt. 1:358) when he recorded his
"Schwärzlicher Sturmvogel" at Kusaie, according to Wiglesworth
(1891a:79). Finsch (1875:44 and 1881b:113, 115) studied specimens taken
by Tetens, Heinsohn, and Kubary at the Palau Islands and those taken by
Kubary at Ponapé. Earlier, Hartlaub (1868:832) used some of these
specimens from the Palau Islands to describe his _Puffinus opisthomelas_
var. _minor_, which was destined to be placed in synonymy (Murphy,
1927:10). Oustalet (1896:54, 55) recorded specimens taken by Marche at
Saipan in May, 1887, and at Rota in July, 1888. Oustalet referred to
them as _P. obscuras_ and _P. tenebrosus_, respectively. T. W. Gulick
obtained undated skins at Ponapé. Hartert (1900:10) reported on
specimens taken by Owston's collectors at Truk. In 1931, Coultas with
the Whitney South Sea Expedition took one shearwater at Kusaie and a
series of 64 skins at the Palau Islands. He failed to find birds at
Ponapé and wrote that their scarcity there may have been due to
persistent hunting of them by the inhabitants of the island. The NAMRU2
party obtained no information concerning the birds at Guam, Rota, or
Truk, but at the Palau Islands observed shearwaters at sea approximately
6 miles east of Babelthuap Island on September 2, 1945.
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