Temperature Regulation in Nesting Bonin Island Petrels, Wedge-Tailed Shearwaters, and Christmas Island Shearwaters

Abstract

THIS paper representsp art of a study on the thermoregulatoryre - sponseso f nesting sea birds to natural environmentacl onditions. The investigationws ere conductedo n Midway Island, a coral atoll located at latitude 28 ø 13' N. and longitude 177 ø 23' W. in the Leeward Chain of the Hawaiian Islands. A previous publication (Howell and Bartholomew,1 961) dealt with the two specieso f albatrossesth at breed on Midway, and the present study concerus the other three procellariiformsp ecietsh at regularlyn esto n the island. Bailey (1956) has summarized much of the .natural history information on the avifauna of Midway Island, and Farner and Serventy (1959) include referencest o most of :the pertinent literature on thermoregulationin procellariiform birds.